Demons, Deliverance, Discernment Quotes

“Why would a demon haunt a house? The answer is simple: demons will resort to any means possible to persuade people to focus on ghosts and hauntings rather than on God. Consider our culture’s high level of interest in books, shows, and movies that deal with demonic infestation. By getting people to focus on meaningless spiritual diversions such as haunted houses, the demons hope to distract them from truly important spiritual realities such as sin and the state of their own souls.”
― Fr. Mike Driscoll, Demons, Deliverance, Discernment: Separating Fact from Fiction about the Spirit World

“Demons may thus fool people such as psychics and their clients into thinking that people who are supposedly sensitive to the paranormal can read minds. For example, a demon knows that I am feeling very sad about the recent death of a friend. I go to a psychic, hoping to learn something as to the state of my friend’s soul. The demon knows about the death and observes that I am feeling down. He can suggest to the psychic’s mind that I am sad over the death of my friend. Although he has never met me, the psychic can tell me how I am feeling and why. We both think the psychic is somehow reading my mind and my feelings, when we are both just being used and deceived by the devil.”
― Fr. Mike Driscoll, Demons, Deliverance, Discernment: Separating Fact from Fiction about the Spirit World

“The standard theory is that DID is caused by trauma, especially childhood physical and sexual abuse. Painful thoughts and feelings connected to the trauma are then linked to imaginary friends, fanciful creations of the mind that are common among children. During highly stressful situations, the imaginary friends become more prominent and may function in place of the self. The child begins to dissociate, which means that he is experiencing the start of separate personalities or identities. During adolescence, the imaginary friends complete the split from self and develop their own personalities or identities. The identities, often called alters, develop as needed in response to the abuse and the emotions that go along with it. For example, shame may result in an alter that is weak and allows itself to be hurt; anger may produce one that seeks revenge and is hostile; fear may create an alter that is protective. The alter most closely associated with an individual’s original identity is called the host. Alters are usually aware of at least some of their fellow alters and of the host. The host often does not realize when a transition takes place between one identity and another. Months or years may pass with another identity in control while the host is not conscious of it. Some alters are described as frightening and violent. Their negative behaviors may include self-mutilation, suicide, violence, and murder.36”
― Fr. Mike Driscoll, Demons, Deliverance, Discernment: Separating Fact from Fiction about the Spirit World