Featured The Biblical Basis of Catholic Distinctives

(1) A few years ago, I received a call from friends at a UMC church I used to pastor. Their son in his late teens was secretly addicted to opioids. Then one night he went reluctantly to a horror movie with friends. The combined effect of created fear and opioids left him vulnerable to spirit oppression with paranormal manifestations like a supernatural light shining in his closet and his bedsheets being violently ripped from his bed in the middle of the night.

His desperate parents summoned an evangelical deliverance team to "cleanse" the boy and his room, but their invocation of Jesus' name had no effect. As a last resort, these evangelical parents called the local Catholic bishop, who sent them a mild-mannered Nigerian priest-exorcist. This Nigerian chanted his exorcism prayers, SPRINKLED HOLY WATER, and quickly took charge of the infesting spirit. This Catholic Nigerian succeeded where the evangelical exorcist team failed!

(2) The real possession case that inspired the horror movie, "The Exorcist," involved a young boy who was playing with a Ouija board. The boy displayed the classic paranormal symptoms of possession--superhuman strength, levitation, psychokinetic movement of objects, etc. A Lutheran pastor tried and failed to exorcise the boy and was injured in his efforts. Realizing he was in over his head, he called the local Catholic bishop, who sent Father Bowdern for a long siege with Satan that involved a family move form Georgetown to St. Louis. Father Bowderm and his Catholic team regularly sprinkled Holy Water on the boy, which greatly upset the demon and proved quite effective. Eventually the boy converted to Catholicism so he could receive the Catholic Eucharist. The key moment of victory occurred when the boy was able to affirm Jesus as his Lord and confessed "Dominus."