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Regarding Christianity in Japan, one useful bit of previous experience is the history of Christian missionaries in the 16th-17th centuries. Francis Xavier, founder of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) was one of them! They encountered particular issues with how best to introduce Japanese people to Christian belief, and one of the biggest problems they faced ...

Notice that in the Mark case, Jesus is saying, "Don't forbid them from casting out demons," whereas in Acts 19, it is the demons themselves who are unwilling to be cast out by someone who may use the name of Jesus, but who seems to be trifiling with things they shouldn't be. In the case of Mark, it would be humans resisting, in the case of Acts, it is ...

St. Joseph is the terror of Demons because all of demons effort is nullified if one seeks refuge to St. Joseph and also because he is pure, and demons cannot stand against his purity. Even though there is no official dogmatic pronunciation in this regard by the Catholic church, numerous private revelationsexample and traditions have held that St. Joseph, ...

In the case of the devils wanting to have permission to enter the pigs rather than be cast into no particular place it seems to be under a simple desire of destruction. The demons are enraged to destroy and in this story we clearly see the bounds of the destruction they seek are under the power of God. They are tied to a divine leash, not being permitted to ...

According to John Darbys Synopsis of the New Testament, these men were non-Christians, who attempted to use the name of Christ as a sort if magic word. Not only were they operating without the power of the Holy Spirit, their use was a mockery of Christ's Holy Name. As such, they would not have the power necessary to stand against demons. Certain Jews ...

I am personally unaware of any denominations that would specifically deny as part of their creed demon possessions or exorcisms. However there are many denominations that by ignoring this area of practical theology do about the same. Many of the "liberal" denominations tend to deny the spiritual nature of things and think of things more in terms of mental ...

Much, nearly all, of the inner workings of the angelic and demonic beings are not disclosed in scripture. However, on this subject there are some things that indicate each individual is not always 'pursued' to the same degree, which by inference must make us conclude each person compared is not 'pursued' equally. The attacks seem proportionate to our faith ...

The power over demonic spirits does not come from knowing the names of the spirits, but in the power of the name of Jesus. Demons are subject to the name and authority of Jesus. Knowing the names of demons does not give you power over them. 17 The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” 18 And he ...

Fr. Gabriel Amorth (at one time the chief exorcist for the Vatican) in his book, An Exorcist Tells His Tale cites two examples of people who were decidedly Christians (and, in fact were very devout) who were possessed by demons. He goes on to explain that it is his experience that possession by a demon has nothing to do with the state of one's soul. He ...

The "spirit of this world" refers to the unrepentant sinfulness of people, especially those inclinations that lead people to rally against and undermine the Church. The "acting body" of the spirit of this world seems to be primarily human (human impiety, malice, and so on), though it is certainly stoked and sustained by the forces of darkness and the devil ...

Here's the Italian of the Regina Coeli, dated April 24, 1994. Aveva di sicuro ben presente questa scena il Papa Leone XIII, quando, alla fine del secolo scorso, introdusse in tutta la Chiesa una speciale preghiera a San Michele: "San Michele Arcangelo difendici nella battaglia contro i mali e le insidie del maligno; sii nostro riparo . . .". Anche ...

The spirit of the world is referred to in 1 Corinthians 2:12-13: Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. ...

This idea is actually grounded in Scripture. Luke records an interesting incident in Acts 19, wherein the "sons of Sceva" attempted to cast out demons in the Jesus' name. The sons of Sceva, however, really didn't know what they were doing, and it goes horribly wrong. As the demons are about to pounce on them, they say: 15 But the evil spirit answered ...

If God is omnipotent, then God is ultimately in charge of everyone, even demons. No one does anything apart from the will of God. Many accept the existence of two wills in God - a hidden will of election (hidden or decretal will), and a revealed will. Following that idea, we could say that demons are obedient to God's hidden will (as indeed, everything ...

I don't really see a discrepancy here. On these two occassions the Bible describes someone attempting to cast out a demon. In one case the person succeeded and in the other case the person failed. There could be any number of reasons why they had different outcomes. Exactly what does it take to successfully cast out a demon? I don't know. Jesus told his ...

The revelation of the person of God in Jesus Christ is a most holy, sacred and defining moment in the church's history and Christian faith. It is therefore a task that inures only to God himself, at the appointed time. It is a holy revelation, and a holy appointment. To allow just anyone, much more a fallen angel, to wholly accomplish or even share such ...

Demons like Totoro remind me of what Mark Twain wrote in his book concerning St. Joan of Arc Now the several traditions were as I have said, some believing one and some another. One of them I knew to be the truth, and that was the last one. I do not say anything against the others; I think they were true, but I only know that the last one was; and it is ...

The Anglicans and the Catholics perform exorcisms from time to time which means they believe in possession. I recently read "The Dark Sacrament" half the book is exorcisms from an Anglican and half is from a Catholic (it has 10 stories altogether), also Malachi Martin's "Hostage to the Devil" is interesting. I've also heard good things about "The exorcism ...

The owner lost the pigs, but did not complain, an illustration that the earth and its fullness belong to God. He allowed demons to kill his pigs.Why would the earthly man complain. There was no need to cast demons to hell because judgement time was not yet. God keeps his word and promise. He has destined time for everything. If the owner was Jewish, Jesus ...

Similar to humans, the demons have their own freedom to act. God's control can be seen only as a limitation of devil's freedom, in sense that God will not allow to these spirits to affect the freedom of us as humans or other creatures. When Scripture says that "God sends an demon to do something ..." this must be always understood that "God lets/allows an ...

Divine Providence So your question isn't about evil spirits and how the relate to God necessarily, your question really is about how free moral agents can exist if God is in control of everything. As humans, angles, and evil spirits fall into that classification, the whole umbrella doctrinal category as it relates to this question is divine providence. ...

As Zack stated, God is omnipotent, so He controls even demons. But demons (like all angels and human beings) have free will, so this control is limited. Jesus (or exorcists who act in name and authority of Jesus) casts out evil spirits "by the finger of God" (Luke 11:20) - so Father must have had authority to force the evil spirits to leave. What you ...

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. (1 John 4:4) I have experience this verse myself when encountering a demon possessed woman, who had escaped from a hospital under psychiatric protection. When I encountered her, her eye’s locked into mine and I sensed an ...

Analogical place in Luke (11:14-28) have this context: 24 “When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ 25 When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. 26 Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and ...

It helps to compare the situation with changes in mindset. We know that people who are selfish and immoral act out their worldviews, but some of these actions seem to exceed even the impetus the individuals assign to them. They seem to be reinforced by external forces that amplify these actions, turning them into monstrous deeds. When individuals come to ...

No one of the other answers take into account one thing: there is a big difference between devil's rule over soul (i.e. sin) and over body (possession). Amorth refers cases of very devout people (some of them already died and were pronounced saint) who vere possessed for some time, but they didn't sin, so devil had control over their body, but not soul. ...