Preoccupation with evil QUESTION from Marcia September 4, 2001 Hello!
I just want to say thank you for clearing up so many myths and educating us about what we are truly agaist: evil.
I wish to say to those on this site should rather be focused on God, The Father, Son & Holy Spirit and The Holy Trinity than the other= the other wants us to be distracted from God, and thinking about the other is the biggest distraction from The Light and the other laughs! I feel for those who need advise regarding family & friends experimenting with the occult, but, other than that, which does need assistance, I beg of you all not to dignify the other with any sort of recognition. We don't need to knw about ghosts, vampires, etc- we know that is bad and should not be of interest to us.
WWJD? He didn't ponder evil; He died tofree us from it.
please seek The Light of Christ, and forget about asking about witchcraft and demons. They don't deserve credit or investigation.
god Bless you ALL!
Peace & joy; Marcia
ANSWER by John-Paul Ignatius, OLSM on September 7, 2001 Dear Mrs. Marcia:
Thanks for the kind words. I do my best.
I do need to clarify your comments, however, to be sure that our readers understand a balance here. There are some who say that we are not to learn anything about Satan or even type or say his name. So I want to balance what you said, which is a true what you said, but balance it to make sure some of our readers don't go to the extreme.
Pre-occupation is the key. But it is not preoccupation to learn what we need to learn about Satan's schemes. If we are not familiar with them then we can be tricked by them. The Bible and the Church tell us to be on guard and watchful for the devil is like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. What are we going to watch for if we do not have some basic knowledge of our enemy?
It is true that an excessive interests in demonology and unending curiosity is harmful, but we do need to have a basic knowledge of how the enemy works. No prudent soldier goes into battle without intelligence of the schemes of the enemy.
We need not be afraid to use the word Satan or devil. In a sense of misplaced piety some believe that we should not even say the name. This is superstition and worse it is treating the devil as if he is a god. Remember? In the Old Testament the tradition was not to say the name of God because of His emmense holiness. The devil does not deserve that kind of courtesy.
To speak the name is to exercise power -- either power in the name of the person, or power over that of whom you speak. That is why in exorcisms the exorcist attempts to discover the name of the demon as to have power over the demon to cast it out. That is why we evoke the name of Jesus because it has power over all other names.
We need to avoid such thinking that Satan's name cannot be spoken. It does NOT give him power to say his name (in the context of which we are using it) rather it TAKES AWAY his power. To say his name in the light of day is to smash is terrible head for we can say his name with confidence because we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus.
Bealzabubba is toast. Jesus Christ was won! Halleulah.
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