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Actually, this is more Kabbalah than Christianity and has further roots in the occult and other non-Christian mysticism and folklore (Rumpelstiltskin comes to mind, which is a decidedly non-Christian story).
The idea that knowing the name of a beast/demon/whatever gives you dominion over it came from the idea that naming a beast/demon/whatever showed your ...
11
Not all Catholic priests are specially trained in the sort of exorcism depicted in the film (although a particular form of exorcism is contained in the rite of baptism). Major and specific exorcism is a specialist ministry for which some are more suited than others.
Sacerdos, seu quivis alius legitimus Ecclesiae minister, vexatos a daemone exorcizaturus, ea ...
10
There are no explicit references to exorcism in the OT. However, in a possible foreshadowing of Christ, David caused an evil spirit to depart from Saul multiple times by playing the harp (1 Sam 16, 18, 19). Some view the NT exorcism accounts as evidence of an increased attempt by Satan to thwart God's plan to redeem the world through Jesus.
9
Spiritual beings do not have physical bodies.
Luke 29:34 (NASB)
"See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have."
While the spiritual beings mentioned in the Bible are described as "men," they are not exactly "males" in the sense that we use to classify physical ...
9
As close as I can understand these Scriptures they apply to the fallen Angels:
Revelation 12:7 through 9 NKJV And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, 8 but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. 9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent ...
9
From Calvin's commentary on Ephesians 2:2 :
We may now draw from it also this inference, that ungodly men have no excuse in being driven by Satan to commit all sorts of crimes. Whence comes it that they are subject to his tyranny, but because they are rebels against God? If none are the slaves of Satan, but those who have renounced the service, and refuse ...
8
I’ll try to answer the question from a Catholic perspective and, additionally, provide some supplementary information about what has been mentioned in the comments.
The general answer to the question is “no”. First, God is Almighty, both before and after His revelation to us. So you can’t exercise power over Him. We can do wonders in Jesus’ name, but only ...
8
The first step in looking for a respected theologian who can propose this view is to define how we know a theologian is respected, and I suggest a minimum requirement is that he or she is a theologian who has written works that are cited by his or her peers; a theologian is also likely to teach theology in a tertiary environment, but perhaps this is not so ...
8
Satan and all the fallen angels (demons) are completely consumed with evil and chose to do evil with all their intellect and sin against God, thus repentance is no longer possible for them.
According to Canon 1 of the VI Lateran Council in 1215, the fallen angels were good. Does any goodness still exist within these demons and can they repent since God is ...
7
I have been rereading many texts I thought I knew well, and finding new surprises. Revelation 9:11 (ESV) says: "They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon." And, we may not know until all things are revealed what the true roles of the angels actually are. But here is another ...
7
There's a lot of baggage that comes with belief, but it's simple to explain:
God exists and he is pure spirit
God made Angels which are pure spirit
Some Angels are good
Some Angels are bad
God made the world
God made people with a body and a spirit
Humanity's ability to comprehend this ends at "people with a body". Philosophers can come up with the rest ...
7
Along with the great answer by Andrew Leach, I would like to point out that a priest or a bishop are valid ministers to perform a exorcisms.
Are all Catholic priests trained to perform exorcism?
Even though all priest can perform an exorcism, there seems to exist a special training for it.src
Is there any guidelines for casting out the demons or evil ...
answered Jun 17 '14 at 13:00
Jayarathina Madharasan
8,6451 gold badge32 silver badges58 bronze badges
7
It appears that there is no explicit reference in the bible to point to anything that suggests that demons have any odor.
However, I really wanted to make sense of this (strange for me) phenomenon, so I put some thought into how to understand this.
How do you detect if something has an odor?
You smell it... stating the obvious.
How do you smell something (...
7
The most obvious reference I see comes from St. Catherine of Siena, one of the Doctors of the Catholic Church.
St. Catherine wrote a work known as the Dialogue, representing a discussion between a soul and God. In Section 22 of the Dialogue, God says this to the soul:
"[The] vision of the Devil is the third pain [of four pains suffered by those in Hell]...
6
There is a passage in Revelation, chapter 12, verses 3 and 4, which may be the only passage to tell us the proportion of the angelic host to have fallen from their exalted state in heaven:
"Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. And his tail swept away a ...
6
Demons can say pretty much whatever they want, lying or telling the truth as it suits them.
Jesus had already been accused of consorting with demons by such groups as the Sanhedrin (for example, in Matthew 12:24). He refuted those claims, of course, but they kept coming up, so it's likely that at least some people believed them. In that context, a demon ...
6
First, at the question : "do you really believe all of this ?" you can confidently answer "Yes". We can have faith in our faith, because it is utterly compatible with reason and science.
Regarding your question, I should decompose it in
1/ possibility of existence of such a thing as demonic possession
2/ necessity (or probability) of it happening
3/ ...
6
I don't think there is any other reference to casting out out of demons other than what's stated above about David. BUT Jesus said this in Matthew 12:27 NLT
And if I am empowered by Satan, what about your own exorcists? They cast out demons, too, so they will condemn you for what you have said.
So it seems as if casting out of demons already was ...
6
How are people who were not approved by Jesus (Matthew 7:21-23) still able to expel demons? [closed]
tl;dr
It is possible that they are not casting out the demons but that the demons participate by leaving on their own accord, in order to provide credence to the preacher.
Exorcism exists also in other religions such as some forms of buddhism (they call it bgegs-bloz-chog or za-dre kha sgyur depending on the ritual) and among the nature religions of Africa....
6
From the perspective of the Greek New Testament, demon could be said to represent δαίμων (daimōn, from which the corresponding English word is derived) and devil could be said to represent διάβολος (diabolos; viz. "diabolical"). A variant of the word δαίμων - δαιμόνιον (daimonion) - is more often used.
Daimon and daimonion together appear 82 times in ...
5
Taking a slightly different tack (and not wanting to detract at all from fredsbend's excellent and informative answer), the short answer is a definite No.
Any authority over evil spirits that a believer may exercise does not derive from knowing their names, but comes by way of delegation from Christ (cf. Matthew 28:19-20;10:1; Luke 10:17-20; Mark 16:17).
...
5
The Four Living Creatures in Revelation are also described in Ezekiel 10, when he has a vision of the Cherubim - which are either heavenly beings and/or angels depending on who you ask:
And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face ...
5
Different translations describe the spirit in different ways:
NIV, KJV, NASB, ISV - Evil
ESV - Harmful
NLT - Tormenting
YLT - Spirit of Sadness
However all these translations agree that this Spirit was sent from the Lord. So to stay with your question, how could a loving God send an evil spirit to torment?
He could for the very same reasons he sent a ...
5
A bit late here, but just wanted to add that the concept that fallen angels are demons (leaving beside the evidence in the New testament, which is not altogether satisfactory), is far older than Justin Martyr developments. The Slavonic Book of Enoch, usually believed to have been written in the 1st century CE, is very explicit about it. First we are told ...
5
According to the Catholic Church, demons are simply fallen angels: i.e., angels who have sinned gravely against God and are now living the eternal consequences of their separation from Him.
Angels
Angels are creatures that, like us, are persons (that is, they are capable of intellectual knowledge and free acts of love). However, unlike us, they are not ...
5
@BYE points in the right direction. Some of the prophecies in Revelation look backwards to events that occurred before John lived, because the contest between Satan and God goes back to the beginning of the world.
12 A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with
the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She
...
5
As a lifelong Protestant whom most people accept as being 'evangelical' I would say the following :
There are many examples and this is but one [Acts 8:27-29, KJV] :
Behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, was returning, ...
4
In addition to @mojo's answer, I think we must distinguish between "male" and "masculine" and "female" and "feminine".
I'm quoting from Dr Peter Kreeft's article on Sexual Symbolism.
we must distinguish "male" from "masculine." Male and female are
biological genders. Masculine and feminine, or yang ...
4
The short answer is no. There are many reports of people "seeing" Heaven or Hell and coming back, but as for entering, there is no return. That being said, Heaven and Hell are spiritual states (at least before Second Coming/Apocalypse) and not physical places; so, in theory, being in Heaven or Hell would rule out "presence" (in a non-physical sense) on Earth....
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