DEMON POSSESSION IN THE U.S.
ARTICLES ON POSSESSION
1. Most people in the U.S. don’t think that demon possession – as pictured in the Bible – is still going on today. This is because behavior that resembles possession is not treated as a spiritual phenomena, but as a mental or physiological one.
2. But the truth is, I believe demon possession is widespread and is on the rise. The Catholic Church, due to its subset ministry of exorcism, is monitoring its rise.
3. SOME RECENT ARTICLES (with brief excerpts):
a. “US Exorcists: Demonic Activity on the Rise” National Catholic Register, Patti Maguire Armstrong, March 11, 2017
“INDIANAPOLIS — There is an alarming increase in demonic activity being reported by those who work in exorcism ministry, said the exorcist for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. Although steps are being taken to increase the number of exorcists, demand is still outpacing supply.
“As the acceptance of sin has increased, so, too, has demonic activity,” Msgr. John Esseff said. “The bishops saw the need for more trained exorcists because so many cases were being referred from all over the country to the dioceses that had exorcists.”
The Pope Leo XIII Institute graduated the first class of 55 exorcists, priests and deacons from its two-year program in 2015. The training involves 10-day sessions given at Mundelein Seminary in the Archdiocese of Chicago, twice a year for two years. A second class of 52 will graduate this fall.
“There is also still some resistance of the reality of Satan,” in the Church, among priests and bishops, he added, “as if there is just evil and not the devil.” “The only one that can overcome Satan is Jesus,” Esseff said.
“It’s not the exorcists that have the power,” Father Lampert said, “but the power and authority of the Church that comes from Jesus Christ. If people would build up their faith lives, the devil will be defeated.”
b. “Exorcism: Increasingly frequent, including after US protests”
By David Crary, Oct 31, 2020 Crux Magazine
More broadly, Andrew Chesnut said, “Exorcism, in its traditional form...is increasingly widespread around the world, though there are no official statistics.” He says the driving force behind the surge since the 1980s has been the spread of Pentecostal churches that highlight the conflict between demons and the Holy Spirit, especially in Latin America, Africa and parts of Asia, including the Philippines.
c. CBNNEWS.COM, “New Barna Survey: More Americans Believe in Satan Than Believe in God” 04-24-2020, Steve Warren
51% believe in a biblical God and 56% believe in Satan.
SIGNS OF DEMON POSSESSION
1. Even if no statistics are kept on demon possession, the same types of manifestations associated with them may be clearly seen in our society.
2. The New Testament noted 9 characteristics of spirits, which manifested specific types of behavior.
9 CHARACTERISTICS OF DEMONS
1. EVIL (wicked, violent) Mt. 12:45, Mt. 8:28, etc.
2. LYING SPIRIT (seducing, deceiving- 1 Tim. 4:1; of error- 1 Jn. 4:4)
3. SICKNESS (Spirit of infirmity, deaf & dumb) Luke 8:2, 13:11.
4. OF FEAR 2 Tim. 1:7
5. OF BONDAGE, Romans 8:15, "douleia" – makes you a slave!
6. SPIRIT OF DIVINATION, Acts 16:16. NIV "a spirit by which she predicted the future." This lady was a medium, channeling spirits.
7. UNCLEAN, Matt. 10:1, this word means “impure, foul, lewd.” ‘Lewd’ has sexual connotations. Merriam Webster gives its synonyms as “lascivious, nasty, obscene, pornographic, porny, profane, raunchy, smutty, vulgar,” etc.
8. SUICIDAL, Matt. 9:22, etc.
9. MULTIPLE PERSONALITIES, Mark 5:9, Mk. 16:9.
THESE 9 MATCHED WITH U.S. BEHAVIOR: AS A CHART
NINE SIGNS OF THE DEMONIC FOUND IN U.S.
Category of spirit.......Text...........Expression.....# US INVOLVED*
EVIL, VIOLENT............Mt. 8:28.....VIOLENT........1.2 million
LYING, SEDUCING.......1 Tm. 4:1...OC-CULT........24 million
SICKNESS, INFIRMITYLuke 8:2....SOMATIC........15 million
SPIRIT OF FEAR..........2 Tm. 1:7...PHOBIAS........41 million
BONDAGE addictions...Rm. 8:15 ALC/DRUG........45 million
DIVINATION...............Act 16:16 SPIRITISM........330,000
UNCLEAN....................Matt. 10:1 PORN/SEX.......40 million
SUICIDE.....................Mk. 9:22.....SUICIDE.........1.3 million
MULTIPLE PERSONALITIES.................................5 million
PEOPLE IN MENTAL FACILITIES/YEAR................2 million
IN PRISON FOR VIOLENT CRIMES.......................1.7 million
EXPLANATION AND SOURCES FOR THESE FIGURES:
1. It is NOT ASSUMED that ALL of these are demon possessions, but that they are expressing behavior that MAY BE associated with possession.
2. Examples: Crazy-violent people, a cultic spirit on them, experiencing illnesses when there is no physical basis for them, delusional with fear, controlled by addictions, yielding themselves to spirits, filled with destructive lust from pornography, trying to kill themselves, multiple personalities speaking to their minds, mentally insane without a physical basis, etc. Sadly there are MILLIONS of people like this, but the medical profession wouldn’t admit that any of them are “possessed.” We Bible believers think that’s what some are.
3. Instead of spiritual assistance, these people are mostly drugged, put into mental institutions, or told their behavior is ‘okay’ because it’s associated with some syndrome. They're told, “Just learn to live with it.” I think Jesus would have a different answer for some of them.
SOURCES FOR THE NUMBERS OF U.S. CASES:
1. VIOLENT CRIMES
There are 1.2 million crimes which occur each year and 1.7 million are presently incarcerated for for violent crimes. https://www.statista.com/topics/1750/violent-crime-in-the-us/
2. NUMBER OF SATANISTS, CULTS Lying spirit
How many people in the USA identify as Satanists?
quora.comhttps://www.quora.com/How-many-people-in-the-USA-identify-as-Satanists?share=1
Over 14 million people in the united states identify themselves as satanists (publicly) May 21, 2018
Add to this are the major cults Mormons (5M or 1.7%), Jehovah Witnesses (2.9M or 1%) of US adult pop. There are 10,000 cults in the US, so the total number of adherents must be above 10 million. [see #2 below, a seducing spirit of error must be involved with many of them.] 14 million Satanists + 10 million in major cults = 24M.
3. (PSYCHO) SOMATIC DISORDERS
“The somatoform disorders are a group of psychiatric disorders in which patients present with a myriad of clinically significant but unexplained physical symptoms.” American Family Physician
Common symptoms are shortness of breath or pain, weakness or fatigue.
aafp.orghttps://www.aafp.org/afp/2016/0101/p49.html
The prevalence of somatic symptom disorder in the general population is an estimated 5% to 7%, making this one of the most common categories of patient concerns
4. SPIRIT OF FEAR, CONTROLLING PHOBIAS
List of Phobias: How Many Are There?
healthline.comhttps://www.healthline.com/health/list-of-phobias
Specific phobias affect an estimated 12.5 percent of American adults. Phobias come in all shapes and sizes. Because there are an infinite number of objects and situations, the list of specific...
5. ALCOHOL/ DRUG USE ABUSE
NCDAS: Substance Abuse and Addiction Statistics [2021]
drugabusestatistics.orghttps://drugabusestatistics.org
If alcohol and tobacco are included, 165 million or 60.2% or of Americans aged 12 years or older currently abuse drugs (i.e., used within the last 30 days). 139.8 million Americans 12 and over drink alcohol. 14.8 million or 10.6% of them have an alcohol use disorder. 58.8 million people use tobacco.
31.9 million or 11.7% of Americans 12 and over use illegal drugs.
6. SPIRITISM
Chart at https://nwspiritism.com/2014/12/24/chart-showing-number-of-spiritist-in-the-world-in-2009-2/
Shows that .1% of U.S. population are spirits, that is, 330,000.
There are 3.8 million spiritists in Brazil, the most of any country!
7. SEXUAL ADDICTION
How Online Pornography Affects Americans
1. About 200,000 Americans are classified as “porn addicts.”
2. 40 million American people regularly visit porn sites.
3. 35% of all internet downloads are related to pornography.
4. 34% of internet users have experienced unwanted exposure to pornographic content through ads, pop up ads, misdirected links or emails.
5. One-third of porn viewers are women.
6. RESULTS: 40 percent of people identified as “sex addicts” lose their spouses, 58 percent suffer considerable financial losses, and about 33% lose their jobs.
“Two recent reports on the pornographic content of phone texting among teenagers, make clear that the digital revolution is being used by younger and younger children to dismantle the barriers that channel sexuality into family life.”
Source: https://www.webroot.com/us/en/resources/tips-articles/internet-pornography-by-the-numbers
330,660,000-34,400,000 children 11 years or younger = 296,260,000. 40,000,000/296,260,000 = 13.5% of Americans are regularly on porn sites!
8. SUICIDE ATTEMPTS
Suicide statistics
Learn the latest published statistics on suicide from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Data & Statistics Fatal Injury Report for 2019, retrieved February 9, 2021. American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the US. In 2019, 47,511
Americans died by suicide. In 2019, there were an estimated 1.38M suicide attempts. https://afsp.org/suicide-statistics/
9. MULTIPLE PERSONALITY
“It is believed to affect about 1.5% of the general population (based on a small US community sample) and 3% of those admitted to hospitals with mental health issues in Europe and North America.”
Source: Wikipedia, “Dissociative identity disorder.”
.015 X 371,403,227 N. Amer. = 5,571,048 X .89 (U.S.%) = 4.9 million people have this!
10. MENTAL HEALTH HOSPITALIZATIONS/YEAR
Follow-Up After Hospitalization for Mental Illness - NCQA ncqa.orghttps://www.ncqa.org/hedis/measures/follow-up-after-hospitalization-for-mental-illness/
Approximately one in four adults in the U.S. suffer from mental illness in a given year; nearly half will develop at least one mental illness in their lifetime. 1,2 There are over 2,000,000 hospitalizations each year for mental illness in the United States. 3 Patients hospitalized for mental health issues are vulnerable after discharge and ...
