Satanists or witches receiving communion
My family has been locked in a demonic battle for close to two years now, ever since my wife's mother (a widow) became intimately involved with a certain man who was then thrust into the midst of our lives. Quite literally, "all Hell broke loose" almost overnight. We have benefitted greatly from the advice and information in your forums and especially the prayers in your spiritual warfare catalog. We can also attest to the fact that sincerely attempting to lead lives of prayer and holiness and frequenting the sacraments are the absolute best defense against the Enemy--just as you always recommend. Despite continuing attacks, our situation is so much better than it was a year ago, and the more severe "flare-ups" we experience are accepted as a fact of Christian life which we do our best to deal with prayerfully!
This man who has been the greatest source of our attacks (in the spirit realm) and has brought about much division and heartache among our extended family (in the natural) has supposedly "converted" to Catholicism from a mish-mash of Eastern mysticsm and occultism. He does Karate, Tai Chi, Reiki, and all other manner of "bodywork" involving "moving energy", "opening Chakras", and the like. Jesus is now invoked along with Budda and Krishna, while the Holy Spirit takes His place alongside "Chi". Supposedly God the Father "heals" the aches and pains of this man's clients through his touch, breath, and various incantations. Despite the outward profession of Catholic faith and acceptance into the Church through the RCIA program, we are not at all convinced that an inward conversion has truly taken place. We certainly cannot judge his heart, as only God can, but feel very strongly that it is all just an act to further deceive and manipulate. Various family members are still being afflicted according to his "modus operandi" which is something my wife has become very adept at discerning. We are especially distrustful after reading in Fr. Amorth's most recent book that much damage is done when people too readily embrace one who has suposedly "converted" and renounced such practices. They are to be forgiven, of course, but can never, ever be trusted.
This raises a quite a concern for us as it regards participation in the sacramental life of the Church and, in particular, reception of the Eucharist. As a hypothetical question, it is possible for a satanist, witch or other such practitioner of evil to derive any sort of additional power or influence through receiving the Eucharist? Is taking the host into their mouths in any way akin to the profaning the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of the Lord as would happen thourgh a black mass or other satanic ritual? Prior to this man's supposed "conversion", he was present at our daughter's Baptism and the wedding of my wife's sister where he was observed within the chuch performing various actions suggestive of summoning spirits or "spreading his stuff" as one Deacon friend who is very knowledgeable of occult practices described it. We are firmly convinced that his presence at the wedding has had a very devastating curse-like effect not only on the newlyweds and their young marriage, but on dozens of the guests as well.
It is all way too much to describe, summarize or even list, but suffice to say, this man has able to bring much harm to people through his presence as the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Matirmony were celebrated, and we wonder if his new "Catholic" status and subsequent receiving of the Eucharist gives him any futher way to infuse evil into the parish community or the body of believers at large.
Thank you for taking this question and for your dedication to equipping believers for practical, prayerful, spiritual warfare that is in no way at odds with the teaching authority of the Church. You do a tremendous service just by hosting these forums which allows individuals to read about the "problems" that others experience and know that they are not alone--or insane! May God richly bless you and your ministry!
QUESTION from Alan on June 20, 2004
ANSWER by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM on June 27, 2004
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Dear Alan: I praise God that you have been helped by our apostolate and that things are improving for you and your family. As for the man you speak of is sounds like a real "piece of cake" :) If the man converted and was baptized and confirmed then he did in fact receive the graces from those Sacraments at least unless he received the Sacraments fraudulently. Assuming that he was sincere in his conversion, it sounds like he is not fully converted. Unfortunately it is highly likely that he was not been properly catechized and is thus not fully aware that the activities he is still involved with are not consistent with Catholicism at best, and outright sin at worse. If possible, you may want to try to educate him a little using the Catechism. In terms of your hypothetical. If a Satanist, occultist, or anyone else not properly disposed to receive the Eucharist, including a Catholic not properly disposed, such persons commit a sacrilege and against our Lord. Those who receive the Eucharist with evil motive further commit the grave sins of defamation of the Blessed Sacrament and blasphemy against God. Such people have their souls at serious risk not only spiritually, but perhaps even physically. St. Paul tells the Corinthians, who were Christian, that many of them were sick and many died because they received the Eucharist unworthily. A Satanist will not receive the graces that come from the Eucharist since such a person is receiving with evil intent, sacrilege, defamation, and blasphemy. Satan, however, can reward a Satanist for defaming God with demonic power. Much demonic power can be raised when directly defaming the Eucharist or in sacrifice of an innocent. This power is real and it is demonic. Ultimately, however, whatever power the devil promises the Satanists, the devil will break his promises, lie, dump the person, and drag the him to hell if he can. It always ends up that way no matter what Satan promises. Not only will the devil break his promises eventually, but he will take the person into what is called "Dump Stage." Satan dumps and abandons the person to drug addiction, murder, rape, suicide or whatever thing that will destroy the person's life and others with him. When the devil is through with a person, he throws them away. I experienced this myself when I was seduced into the occult. Satan had brought me right to the brink of pure evil. My toes were right on the line. If I had crossed that line I would have gone over to the dark side and probably never would be lost forever. Thank God, there was enough opening in my soul to listen to the Holy Spirit at least enough to draw back from that line of evil. When I did this it made the devil angry and I was "dumped" into suicide. I had a "nervous breakdown" and planned on killing myself. It was only by a miracle of God that I was saved from my own suicide. That is a story for another time. The bottomline though, is that the devil will always dump us regardless of what we do. If In had crossed the line, the devil would have used me up for evil and then dumped me. In drawing back from the line I thwarted the devil's plans and he dumped me. One gets dumped either way, and often the person does not survive the dumping. I survived only because of the providence of God, not because I came to my senses.
God Bless, 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 |