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The New Testament tells us some of the signs of demon possession. The demons can speak through their victims, show new abilities, different personalities, and suicidal tendencies. Demon possessed people are controlled by demonic presence. Though the symptoms look like psychological dysfunction, the problem is actually demon possession.

Nearly half the population believes possession is real, intellectual humility dictates we at least entertain the possibility demons really exist and can inhabit the bodies of people and take control. Demands for exorcism have risen in recent years, among Catholics, for whom exorcism remains a sanctioned ritual, and non-Catholics.

I observed a Catholic exorcism during a Baptism of the Holy Spirit ceremony. A crooked young man was in line and when the celebrant anointed him the young man fell to the ground. The celebrant asked the assembly to show their rosaries and invoke mainly the Blessed Mother. Then the young man raised healed from the ground and started to talk to his friends.

“Pray three ‘Hail Mary’ a day to keep demons away.” The late Father Gabriele Amorth, main Vatican exorcist, claimed the Blessed Mary is the person demons fear the most.

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