Help on situations involving people who belives in Allain Kardec´s doctrine
Dear brothers and sisters. First I want to thank all of you for this great and helpful site, that is teaching me a lot of things about Christ, the church, the faith, and renewing it on me.
I would like to ask about a specific situation that happened to me, so I can learn what to say to others about the catholic oppinion of this situation I will discribe...
Last friday night my girlfriend went out with 3 other coleagues, and one of them started behaving in a very strange way: She was agressive, wanted to hurt everyone, said the she would kill them (specialy to my girlfriend, who was trying to help). Also, her eyes were different (as discribed by my girlfriend, it seemed like convulsions), and her voice was very different, loud, yeling at everyone. Some moments she said things like "Please help me! Take it out!" She went out of control, and was taken to the hospital, where no mental disease was found (but also not much investigation). She was taken there by force, as she wanted to hurt people, and also started saying things to other patients like "This person wont heal because there is a bad spirit next to him"..
I could speak with this person by phone (my gfriend called me because she didn´t know what to do, as the hospital wanted to be free of her coleague, as this person was "physicaly well", and causing so much trouble..
OBS:. I am from Brasil, and unfortunaly public hospitals here are bad) This person was in huge sadness and suffering in the phone, saying things like "I wanna stop studying medicine, I am doing something that I hate.." - Obs;. We are all medical students). Also I know this girl has a lot of trouble with her family.
Two important things:
ON THE OTHER HAND, this person is someone that prays (my gfriend told me that in the same night earlier she suggested to everyone to pray, so that they could enjoy the night with the protection of God).
Of course I don't agree with their explanation and to what Allain Kardec says about it, so I would like to know better what is our church view of the phenomena, in the case that it isn´t a mental disorder.
Also, I would like to ask the following questions:
A) Is the fact that someone practices this doctrine, what are the implications about sucecibility of demon pocession? Even if you pray to God, considering that you have some false beliefs by following this doutrine, does it makes you more far from God? What are the implications? Can this souls ever be in a grace state?
B) Are the pocessions only made by demons, or can they be bad spirits, as hell souls? Does exist any "good pocession", as for example, a saint using someone´s body to say something?
C) What is the condition necessary that alows a pocession? It only happens to souls "far from God", or can it happen to someone very close to Him??
D) What should I do in a situation like this, specialy if I am alone with the person, and the person´s only available help at the moment?
Sorry my bad english, and sorry for the amount of the questions... Please, even if you don´t want to post this message in the Forum section, I would appreciate a lot to receive an answer by email, so I would know what to say and what to do in a situation like this, according to the Church´s teachings..
Again, Thank you a lot!
QUESTION from Alberto on April 17, 2004
1) She had no contact with drugs.
2) She follows the Allain Kardec doctrine ("Spiritism" - I am not sure how do I spell this word in English), and her mother said later when we called her that her daughter always had this kind of "incorporations", because she has "mediunity power" , and she needs to find someone from this belief to help her when she have this problems, because according to them they are bad spirits..
May God bless you all forever!
Alberto
ANSWER by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM on April 24, 2004
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Dear Alberto: Well from your description it sounds like there is a high possibility that your colleague is demonized and in need of help. If this person is a followe of Allan Kardec then that could be the source of the demonization. Allan Kardec was a "spiritist" and based his "philosophy" upon information gather from "spirit" gained through mediums. Spirit contact through mediums are demons in diguise. Thus Kardec's thinking is contaminated by demonic information. To Question #1: Someone following the doctrine of Kardec is risking becoming demonized. The Church condemns occult philosophies and adherence to such constitutes a grave sin. A person following these occult philosophies needs to repent and seek the Sacrament of Confession before receiving the Eucharist. To Question #2: There is no such thing as a "good possession". Saints to not "possess" anyone. It is possible for an human evil spirit to possess in some rare cases. One of the most famous exorcisms is recorded in the book, "Begone Satan", that involved a child possessed by the evil spirit of her father and with demons. This is rare but possible. To Question #3: Demonization can occur in a number of ways. Obviously, being far from God through sin can make one vulnerable to the devil. Actively participating in things occult, such involving oneself with Ouija Boards, Tarot Cards, Mediums, seances, spiritualism, satanism, and other things occult is a good way to invite the devil to mess with you. To Question #4: You need to pray for this person. Perhaps try to convince them to abandon this Kardac philosophy and seek Confession and become a good Catholic. Ask the person if they would be willing to have a priest pray over them. Encourage them to attend Mass regularly and to spend time befire the Blessed Sacrament in the Tabernacle. DO NOT, however, try to deal directly with any evil spirits; you are not qualified to do that. But you can pray for this person. Ultimately, this person cannot helped unless they wish to be helped, but perhaps the person can be convinced to see a priest about this. Keep praying for the person.
God Bless, P.S. A NOTE TO ALL READERS: We often have people suggesting that if we do not want to publish their question that they would like a private email to answer the question. Due to time-restraints we will NEVER answer a question by private email. All questions are published unless they violate the rules of the Forum. See our Protocols and Rules of Conduct for more information. For Assistance with Spiritual Warfare problems please go to our How We Can Help You page. For a direct link to sample Spiritual Warfare prayers see our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog |