Exorcism and Its Relation to Religion of Today
...m. It is widely considered that Jesus was an exorcist, and the Bible includes four instances in which He performed these exorcisms. One prominent story is the account of the Healing of Gerasene Domoniac, about a man who is possessed. People tried to restrain him, but he broke apart from his chains. Jesus witnessed the man, and he drove the unclean spirits from the man and put them into a herd of swine, which promptly dove into the sea. The first act of exorcism in which Christians had a developed formula for getting rid of spirits is documented in Chapter 16 of Acts of the Apostles, in which Paul says, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” The New Testament describes occasions when Jesus Christ expelled evil spirits by prayer and the power of his command. Although Jesus was proven to be an exorcist, in the Roman Catholic Church, exorcism is only performed by a priest with special permission. Possession is a very ambiguous term, but it can be loosely defined as “when Satan enters and takes over the physical and mental capabilities of a victim; however, the soul will always remain free.” Since Satan acts through the victim without the victim’s consent, the victim remains morally blameless. Today, there is a great climate for possession because of all the chaos in the world. Satan, when attempting to possess someone, does not work alone. He uses evil, like pornography, violence, and alcohol to spread his messages. And there are so many forums for which his message can be spread, like through television, the Internet, ...