Spiritual Warfare: Spiritism And the Occult

Saturday, May 13, 2006

Spiritism And the Occult

Spiritual Warfare

There is a misunderstanding abounding in many Catholic/Christian communities lately on what people think is 'spirituality' but is in effect spiritism as many flock to see those 'soothsayers' who can speak with the dead. They either become glued to their TV sets to watch little more than occultism or some misguided and grieving relatives seek relief by trying to contact their dead relatives.

Spiritism has now become a major market as more and more shows promote this means of communication and people pay money to these fraudulent practitioners of the occult. This conveys a fundamental lack of trust in God within the Christian, for when our loved ones pass from this world they then receive their Just reward from God and pass on to eternal Glory either by purification in purgatory or into the Kingdom of Heaven.

There are only a few occurrences when due to God's Love and compassion for His people He has allowed the Saints to warn and protect particular souls. It is a well known fact that the young Joan d'Arc had Heavenly visitations from St. Catherine of Alexandria, St. Margaret and St. Michael the Archangel, these Heavenly visits were in preparation for the commission that God had set forth for this young girl of France. It is also recorded when a young man named Alessandro Serenelli murdered Maria Goretti this young martyr appeared to her murderer. This event changed the hard hearted Alessandro who embraced the Faith and deeply regretted murdering this great Saint and martyr of the Church. The difference with these miraculous events were indeed just that, miracles where no 'channeler' or 'soothsayer' was necessary. When God wishes to deliver a message He has no need of 'soothsayers'! As the Word warns those who do procure this sort of paranormal activity, "Go not aside after wizards, neither ask any thing of soothsayers, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God....Neither let there be found among you any one that shall expiate his son or daughter, making them to pass through the fire: or that consulteth soothsayers, or observeth dreams and omens, neither let there be any wizard..."

To seek out these soothsayers, fortune tellers and other occult practices is to place your own soul in danger and to invite the demonic agents of Satan into your own soul and home. There can be no greater joy to Satan than to know that God's own children doubt His Goodness and His Word, "Amen I say to you, there hath not risen among them that are born of women a greater than John the Baptist: yet he that is the lesser in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he...Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, he is the greater in the kingdom of heaven."

Losing a loved one is heartbreaking indeed, but why do we need to disturb those who have gone to a better place? It is better to offer a Mass for the repose of the soul who has died, and to pray for them rather than leave yourselves open to demonic attack by partaking in occult practices.

We must also be wary of those who say they are the recipient of Divine visits, or that God is speaking through them, either by voice or by controlling their handwriting. It is prudent to wait upon the judgment of the Catholic Church in regards to miraculous visions and Divine messages. As St. John of the Cross warns us in his writings, "the devil causes many to believe in vain visions and false prophecies; and strives to make them presume that God and the saints are speaking with them; and they often trust their own fancy. And the devil is also accustomed, in this state, to fill them with presumption and pride, so that they become attracted by vanity and arrogance, and allow themselves to be seen engaging in outward acts which appear holy, such as raptures and other manifestations." It is a known fact that the devil can disguise himself as a 'being of light' but what is hidden is his blackened heart. It is vanity to seek God in visions it would be better to seek God through the Sacraments and the practice of virtue through God's Grace.

There are only two forces in this world one is the Source of Goodness which is the Triune Spirit the other force is of the satanic realm and his hordes of demons. There is no 'go-between' for the living and the dead to communicate with each other, so when one seeks out these para-normal experiences they are dealing with the demonic who masquerade as their loved ones. We must keep in mind in order to win a soul over, Satan will tell one truth to fool the trusting soul as he and his demons tell a thousand lies.

When people not only believe in this form of spiritism and then promote it as legitimate, they must seek the counsel and guidance of their Priest or Spiritual Director. No matter how slick or 'sincere' these soothsayers are they do not hold any legitimacy in Church Doctrine and for Christians to embrace this form of communication is to doubt God's Promise of Eternal life with Him.

God's Salvation of His beloved children was paid in full by the Salvific death and Resurrection of our Lord and Savior...God's Promises come free of charge, can we say the same of the soothsayers?