Direct MP3 download: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1934329/10090193-episode-4-demonic-possession-and-the-jesus-prayer.mp3
Secret Grasp is a podcast all about the mysterious and difficult to explain aspects of life. We cover topics relating to the paranormal, occult, psychic, spirituality, conspiracy theories, urban legends, cryptids, UFOs, aliens, ghosts, demons, and other strange occurrences. Visit us at www.secretgrasp.com
This episode is all about demons and demonic possession:
– What are demons?
– What are the 4 ways that demons can impact people?
– What are the gateways for demons to enter your life?
– My own experiences with the demonic
– What to do if you think you’re possessed or affected by demons
In the next episode we’re going to talk all about communicating with spirits.
Intro music:
50 by tobylane
Link: https://pixabay.com/music/beats-50-1280/
License: https://pixabay.com/service/license/
Outro music:
Half Mystery by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5026-half-mystery
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Show Notes
Hello and welcome to Episode 4 of Secret Grasp.
Secret Grasp is a podcast all about the mysterious and difficult to explain aspects of life.
We cover topics relating to the paranormal, occult, conspiracy theories, urban legends, cryptids, UFOs, aliens, ghosts, demons, and other strange occurrences.
You can find us on all of the major podcasting apps. All of our links are available on our website at secretgrasp.com
It’s also worth noting that Big Tech Companies like Youtube and Spotify have been deplatforming some shows like ours for misinformation. So if you want to be sure we can stay in touch, it’s best to go to our website at secretgrasp.com and sign up for the email list. I promise I won’t spam you, and I’ll only contact you via email regarding major updates to the show.
In today’s episode, we’re going to talk about demons. Specifically, demonic possession.
Before I launched the podcast, I’ve been writing show notes for future episodes ahead of time. And I found myself giving lots of warnings about demons. So I thought it was best to just devote a whole show to this topic up front.
Everything in this episode you should assume is coming from a Christian framework. I’m just going to take it for granted, that doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m a Christian or that I endorse it. I’m just not going to say “According to Christianity” every time.
What are demons?
In a Christian sense – fallen angels
In a historical sense – Many demons from the Bible are the gods of other people in the region. For example, Baal was a primary God of the Canaanites. Over time, Jews and Christians “demonized”, or literally turned the Gods of other people into demons in their own religion.
It’s widely understood that Christianity is a monotheistic religion, but I would question that. The Bible seems to acknowledge that plenty of other Gods exist. The first of the ten commandments is “thou shalt have no other gods before me”. It doesn’t necessarily say there are no other gods.
So when dealing with demons, you may actually be dealing with other ancient gods.
Demons exist in the three main monotheistic religions of Judiasm, Christianity, and Islam. But they also appear in pretty much every other form of religion or spirituality throughout history. The Hindus have asuras and other evil spirits. Native Americans speak of Wendigos. In Buddhism, Siddhartha was tempted by the demonic celestial king Mare-a.
In ancient Greece, they had daimons. These aren’t like typical demons. Instead, it’s more like a spirit of inspiration that comes over you. So you might be possessed by the daimon of love, or rage, etc.
4 types of demonic involvement:
Infestation – This is typical stuff that you might associate with ghosts or a home being haunted at first glance. Things moving by themselves, hearing voices, footsteps, things appearing.
An infestation can’t involve people, they only affect objects, properties, or animals. A prime example would be a demonically infested doll.
Oppression – This is the next degree up. You might start to be physically attacked by a demon. You might get scratches on your body, or feel something grab your foot when you’re in bed.
Demonic oppression can also take the form of what could seem like bad luck on the surface. If you’re demonically oppressed you might suddenly get very ill, lose your job, develop depression, start having lots of nightmares, your relationships might start to fall apart. On their own, these things don’t necessarily indicate the demonic are involved. But if it seems like enough things are going wrong in your life to the point that you might be cursed, then it could be demon-related.
Obsession – This is basically when things really ramp up, to the point that you’re having trouble just functioning in life. You might be constantly under attack or thinking about the demonic, or they might have control over your life. After any significant amount of time in this state you’ll probably be suicidal.
Possession – This is obviously the final and most serious stage. It’s what we’re all familiar with from movies like The Exorcist. Up until this point, a regular minister can probably help you deal with the demonic. But once you’re possessed, you’ll really need a formal blessing to get rid of the demonic from your life.
Possession is when a demon actually enters into your body. However it’s important to note that your soul is never impacted. Even when possessed, a person still retains free will and some degree of control over their body. The demon might be able to occasionally take control, or steer people in a particular direction. But even possessed people are able to repent and seek help.
Signs of possession include speaking in tongues, or languages unknown to the person. An aversion to holy objects, like holy water or a crucifix. Knowledge of things they shouldn’t know. Or superhuman strength.
It’s worth noting that the Catholic church has a high standard that has to be met before someone can be considered possessed and they’ll do an exorcism. First you’ll need to undergo a psychological evaluation by a mental health professional to rule out schizophrenia or any other mental illness.
Exorcisms are also not as sensational as in the movies. You’ll never see a Catholic priest performing an exorcism in an old abandoned building in the middle of the night during a thunderstorm. They’re performed on the preist’s terms, not the demon’s.
Some people might think they’re possessed when really they aren’t. Priests have developed some pretty ingenius ways to test. For example, they might put a single grain of blessed salt on a chair before a supposedly possessed person arrives. If someone is possessed, they’ll probably brush the chair off before sitting down, even if the grain of salt is too small to be seen by the average person. They might also put some holy water in a glass of water they offer and see someone’s reaction when they drink it. Or have a holy object in their pocket while meeting with the person and see if they seem to be aware of its prescence and uncomfortable about it.
What are the gateways for the demonic to enter your life?
The ways for demons to make contact with you are pretty much the stereotypical things that everyone knows.
The big one is using a ouija board. Seances, channelling. Or really any type of attempt to contact spirits or talk to the dead. When you undertake these kinds of communications, you really have no idea what you’re dealing with. You have no way to know if a malicious spirit is lying and claiming to be a dead loved one or a famous celebrity.
Any sort of magic, witchcraft or involvement with the occult is another major entry point for demons.Again you have no real idea what kind of forces you’re dealing with.
In more subtle ways, simply living in sin or not having a proper connection with God can open you up to the demonic.
Of course there’s also Subjection, where a person voluntarily submits themselves to Satan or demons. They might do this to acquire power or wealth. Meeting the devil at the crossroads.
My own experience… What got me interested in the demonic fairly recently
For whatever reason, I’ve felt a pull toward Orthodox Christianity. A couple of Youtubers I watch were talking about it, and it kept cropping up.
One of the most prominent prayers in Orthodox Christianity is the Jesus prayer. It goes like this:
Lord jesus christ, have mercy on me, a sinner
So I ended up buying an orthodox prayer rope, which is basically their equivalent of a rosary. And I decided to try and say the Jesus prayer about 50 times before bed one night, followed by the lord’s prayer a couple of times.
First time I had really bad nightmares, my wife said I was crying or yelling in my sleep or something
A couple nights later I tried saying the jesus prayer again. That night, the TV in our bedroom turned on by itself. It’s never happened before or since and really freaked me out.
So I made a deal to demons or whatever that I’d stop praying if they just chilled
As we’ll get into on future episodes, I have a pretty long history of dealing with magic, the occult, and other paranormal stuff. So it’s entirely possible that I’ve attracted demons or something to myself.
I’ve also been an atheist since I was a teenager so it’s entirely possible they just chilled out since I was doomed to hell anyway. But now that I seemed to be turning to Christianity they seemed to be cropping up.
Anyway I’ve been thinking about going to an Orthodox church since then, but my social anxiety is so bad that I don’t know if I’ll ever actually do it.
I tried praying and confessing my sins and then saying the jesus prayer again one night more recently and nothing happened. So I guess I don’t have demons any more.
What to do if you think you’re possessed:
Don’t contact me if you think you’re possessed, cursed, under spiritual attack, if your house is haunted, if you’re being abducted by aliens, or anything else. I’m just a regular guy who researches this stuff and I’m not equipped to help you. I don’t have any special abilities or insights to help you beyond what you can Google yourself.
First off if you think you’re possessed, first I’d talk to your family doctor or a therapist. Assume that the most logical answer is the right one and you might be mentally ill. Realize that if you’re mentally ill, you might think your doctor and other people are working against you. You might even think I’m against you for making this suggestion. I don’t know what I can say to convince you.
If you seem to be of sound mind and you’re still having problems, I’d talk to a Catholic priest. Various religions have ways of dealing with demons, but for whatever reason, Catholics seem to have it really nailed down.
At a less severe level, any Catholic priest can offer you confession or come to bless your house.
If you need an exorcism, then not every Catholic priest is equipped to deal with it. By default, every bishop has the power to conduct an exorcism, and they may also have delegated the responsibility to a specific priest within their diocese. It’s probably best to contact any Catholic priest first. They should be able to refer you to someone. However even some priests don’t believe in possession and won’t take you seriously. So if you feel like they’re being dismissive then you might have to go above their head and try to contact the bishop directly, or try another priest.
If things are really bad, I generally wouldn’t try to deal with it yourself by smudging your house with sage or doing any kinds of banishing rituals. There’s the potential you could make things worse than better, and just anger the demon or spirit.
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In the next episode, I’m going to talk about communicating with spirits.
Just a reminder as well that if you have a strange, creepy, or weird real life story you’d like to share on the show, you can email me. Secretgrasp (at) gmail.com. You can either send an MP3 file of yourself telling the story, or write it out for me to read on the show.
We’ll be in touch soon.