FATHER, THE DELIVERER

To battle we must know the enemy, not for its sake, but for our work of inner healing and deliverance. Human beings are not our enemies. Human beings need to be loved. God is a God of order and balance. Prayer battle needs the fire power of the Holy Spirit, the calling to do it, the authority that must accompany it, and the teaching to go about it.

Know your enemy: briefly, Satan is
1) Liar, a Father of lies; Deceiver, appears to be an Angel of light;
2) Imitates ecstasies, visions, intense apostolic zeal and all the virtues;
3) Satan is a false lover. He does not persevere in love (St. Ignatius of Loyola);
4) Satan’s main tool is discouragement;
5) Satan attacks: a) when timid, he will make us cowards, b) when vain, he will send people to flatter us, c) when devout, he will make us discouraged, d) when we are an active type of person, he will make us more restless.

MEASURES
Beside the pointers that were presented previously (in this book) we need to mention more measures that will keep the termites away from the deception, harassment and trickery of the enemy.

1) Hold on to the Profession of Faith. Pray the Nicene or Apostles Creed seriously and know your doctrinal faith by studying the Catechism.

2) Live the grace of the Sacraments.  Consider going to frequent confession. The Evil One hides in darkness and flees in the light. Confession is a way to bring your darkness into the light. Try to commit going to daily Mass. “Whenever Mass is celebrated, the Kingdom of Satan is falling day by day.” (St. Ignatius of Antioch)

Pray for the refreshment of grace to be operative in you. Pray for actual grace daily to help you sustain the grace of sanctification and avoid sin.

3) Be covered under the authority of the Church. The devil knows and obeys the command under the authority of Jesus to Christians and the hierarchy of the Church. The Church is given the authority of binding and loosing and casting out demons.

Pray the Holy Rosary, the Prayer of Authority and put on the armor of God every day.

4) Avoid opening up the doors:
            Avoid sin
            Beware of fear
            Resolve emotional hurts
            Avoid occult involvement

5) Live the Precept of Charity: Love one another as I love you.  Love heals fear.  Fear is the ground in which the Evil One lurks.

6) Live the spirit of the Counsels:  Poverty regulates your inordinate desire to things;Chastity regulates your inordinate desires in relationship; Obedience regulates your rebelliousness against legitimate authority.

7) Live the discipline of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. They are weapons against the enticement of the Evil One. Prayer heals our disobedience, fasting heals our attachments to our appetites, desires and spiritual toxins, and almsgiving heals our desire for greed and attachment to material things and possessions.

Curative measures: Prayers, Inner Healing, Deliverance and the Sacrament of Confession.

THE DEGREES OF HOLD OF THE EVIL ONE
2 John 5:19 says:

Listed below are three distinctions:
1) Foothold. The hold of sin. Scripture says: sin is the foothold of the devil.
2) Stronghold. The evil spirit’s hold of emotional bondage, unresolved issues or unhealed emotions; it is also attachments to things, persons and idols.
3) Household of Evil – a full-blown hold of Satan: those who have surrendered their wills and choices to Satan; they are those who are deeply involved in satanic rituals.
 

WAYS OF FREEING ONESELF FROM THE HOLD OF EVIL
1) Sacrament of Confession and mortification. They pull out the rug of sin from underneath, so that sin will not take hold of us. This takes care of the foothold of Satan. Satan is a ruler, when you give him an inch, he will become a ruler. Cardinal Spirits are spirits that hop onto the mind to influence our will to make choices against God in favor of Evil. Deliverance can also be done in some cases, as in confession, that the priest privately and silently employs.

2) Prayer for inner healing and last-resort cases, and deliverance: from unresolved, unhealed emotional issues, conflicts and baggage. Deliverance, a simple binding and loosing prayer of command, naming specifically the different spirits, is applied to “ministering spirits” that attach themselves to those emotions to hold them in bondage.  Satan is a legalist. He comes in when he thinks he has the legal right to be there. This prayer frees and relieves one from the stronghold of evil, the “ministering spirits.”

3) The Rite of Exorcism, as permitted by the Bishop, is employed especially in possessions. Satan is an imitator of the Word made flesh. He wants to enflesh himself in people and take possession. A full blown household of evil, like those involved in Satanic rituals, must be avoided. Satan shows himself when there are many people who are holy. He is forced to be visible in the midst of holiness. When he does not become visible, we should worry. This can mean that many of us are not holy enough to force him to be exposed to the light.

GOD IS THE TRUE STRONGHOLD:

In his book, Spiritual Theology, (Faculty of Theology, UST, Manila 1989, p. 402-414) Fr. Jordan Auman presented a description of three spirits: the divine spirit, diabolical spirit and human spirit .For further readings regarding the human spirit, read Book 3, Chapter 54 of the Imitation of Christ by Thomas a’ Kempis.

INDWELLING BY THE DIVINE SPIRIT
The following characteristics are general signs of the divine spirit:
1. Truth. God is truth and cannot inspire anything but truth in a soul, e.g., opinions regarding revealed truth, infallible teaching of the Church, proven theology, philosophy or science.

2. Gravity. God is never the cause of things that are useless, futile, frivolous or impertinent.

3. Enlightenment. The effect of any inspiration from God is always enlightenment and certitude rather than darkness and confusion.

4. Docility. The spirit of obedience, docility and submission is one of the clearest signs that a particular inspiration or movement is from God.

5. Discretion. The spirit of God makes the soul discreet, prudent, and thoughtful in all its actions; all is well balanced, edifying, serious, and full of calmness and peace.

6. Humility. The Holy Spirit always fills the soul with sentiments of humility and self-effacement. The loftier the communications from on high, the more profoundly the soul inclines to the abyss of its nothingness.

7. Peace. Peace always accompanies communications from God; the soul experiences a profound and stable serenity in the depths of its spirit.

8. Confidence in God.
Recognizing that of itself the soul can do nothing, it throws itself on the power and mercy of God with a childlike trust.

9. Flexibility of will. Consists primarily in promptness of the will to subject itself to the inspirations and invitations of God. Secondarily, it follows the advice and counsel of others, especially superiors, confessors or spiritual directors.

10. Purity of intention. The soul seeks only the glory of God in all that it does and the perfect fulfillment of the will of God, without human interest or motivation.

11. Patience in suffering. No matter what the source of suffering, the soul bears it bears with patience and equanimity and uses it as a means of further perfection.

12. Self-abnegation. Evidence that this is a sign of the spirit of God: “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Mt. 16:24)

13. Simplicity. Together with veracity and sincerity, simplicity is never lacking in those who are truly motivated by the spirit of God.

14. Liberty of spirit. Liberty of spirit enables the soul to live in a state of constant joy and eagerness for the things of God, without attachment to any created thing, not even to the gifts received from God. Second, all is accepted with gratitude and humility.  Third, all duties and spiritual exercises are performed with promptness and punctuality without attachment to them.

15. Desire to imitate Christ. St. Paul says that it is impossible to have the spirit of God without having the Spirit of Christ. (Rom 8:9)

16. Disinterested love. The kind of love that has all the characteristics St. Paul attributes to true charity. (1 Cor 13:4-7)

PURIFYING THE HUMAN SPIRIT
The human spirit is always inclined to its own satisfactions, a friend of pleasure and an enemy of suffering of any kind. It seeks success, honors, applause, and pastimes, and promotes anything that arouses admiration or notoriety. It is possible, in most cases, to determine that a given spirit could not possibly be from God and it must be combated, even if it is not certain that it is from the devil or the human ego. The following are principal doubtful reasons or situations that may require discernment of spirits:
1. To aspire to some other state in life after having made a prudent and deliberate selection for the existing state.
2. To be attracted to rare phenomena or to singular exercises not proper to one’s state in life.
3. An inclination to practice extreme corporal penances.
4. A desire for sensible consolations in the practice of prayer or the exercise of the virtues.
5. The “gift of tears” or the strong inclination to concentrate on the sorrowful and penitential aspects of religion.
6. Exclusive devotion to some particular mystery or pious exercise, which easily leads to a distortion of orthodox theology.
7. Extraordinary favors, such as revelations, visions, stigmata, when they occur in a person of little sanctity. God does not ordinarily grant these gifts except to his servants and friends.

THE DIABOLICAL SPIRIT
The devil may disguise himself as a good spirit and even cause what appears to be authentic mystical phenomena. Following are various signs of the diabolical spirit: 

1. Spirit of falsity. The devil is the father of lies, but he cleverly conceals his deceit by half-truths and pseudo-mystical phenomena.

2. Morbid curiosity. Those who eagerly seek out the esoteric aspects of mystical phenomena or have a fascination for the occult or preternatural.

3. Confusion, anxiety, and deep depression.

4. Obstinacy. One of the surest signs of a diabolical spirit.

5. Constant indiscretion and a restless spirit. One who constantly goes to extremes, whether in penitential exercises of apostolic activity or neglect of primary obligations.

6. Spirit of pride and vanity. Very anxious to publicize gifts of grace and mystical experiences.

7. False humility. Disguise for pride and self-love.

8. Despair, lack of confidence, and discouragement. Chronic characteristic that alternates with presumption, vain security and unfounded optimism.

9. Disobedience and hardness of heart.

10. Impatience in suffering and stubborn resentment.

11. Uncontrolled passions and strong inclination to sensuality, usually disguised as mystical union.

12. Hypocrisy, simulation and duplicity.

13. Excessive attachment to sensible consolations, particularly in practice of prayer.

14. Lack of deep devotion to Jesus and Mary.

15. Scrupulous adherence to the letter of the law and fanatical zeal in promoting a cause. Opens the door to diabolical influence in reformers and demagogues.

Excerpt from Chapter One of the book entitled, When You Pray Say… by Rev. Michael B. Semana, © 2006. For more complete coverage of the topic, refer to the book.