Hostage to the Devil Read online

  The Possession and Exorcism of Five Living Americans

  Malachi Martin

  Contents

  Preface to the New Edition: Possession and Exorcism in America in the 1990s

  The Fate of an Exorcist

  Michael Strong—Part I

  A Brief Handbook of Exorcism

  The Cases

  Zio’s Friend and the Smiler

  Father Bones and Mister Natch

  The Virgin and the Girl-Fixer

  Uncle Ponto and the Mushroom-Souper

  The Rooster and the Tortoise

  Manual of Possession

  Good, Evil, and the Modern Mind

  Human Spirit and Lucifer

  Human Spirit and Jesus

  The Process of Possession

  The End of an Exorcist

  Michael Strong—Conclusion

  Appendix I: The Roman Ritual of Exorcism

  Appendix II: Prayers Commonly Used in Exorcisms

  Searchable Terms

  About Hostage to the Devil

  About Malachi Martin

  About the Author

  Other Books by Malachi Martin

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

  Preface to the New Edition: Possession and Exorcism in America in the 1990s

  In the blink of Gods eye since Hostage to the Devil was first published in 1976, nothing has changed on the one hand. And everything has changed on the other.

  Nothing has changed in the process by which an individual is Possessed by personal and intelligent evil. Nothing has changed, either, in the requirements for successful Exorcism of a Possessed individual. All of that remains as described and summarized in the chapters and cases that follow.

  What have changed are the conditions of the society in which we all now live. To a far greater degree than most of us could have imagined fifteen or so years ago, a favorable climate for the occurrence of demonic Possession has developed as the normal condition of our lives.

  In 1976 Satanism was presented, and was probably regarded by most Americans, as a box office and a bookstore draw. In fact, Hostage to the Devil was intended as a clear warning that Possession is not—nor was it ever—some tale of dark fancy featuring ogres and happy endings. Possession is real; and real prices are paid.

  Now, in America of the 1990s, there is little question of demonic Possession as an entertainment. Among families everywhere and at every level of society, there is instead a justifiable fear. Most of all, this fear is for children. And in point of fact, there are few families not already affected in some way by Satanism. Even by ritualistic Satanism—formal ceremonies and rites organized and performed by individuals and groups in professed worship of Satan.

  For obvious reasons, we don’t know everything about organized Satanist groups, or covens as they are called, in the United States. But the ample knowledge we do have justifies the fear among average families for their children and their way of life in the future.

  We know, for example, that throughout all fifty states of the Union, there are now something over 8,000 Satanist covens. We know that in any major American city or large town, a Black Mass—almost always organized by covens—is available on a weekly basis at least, and at several locations. We know that the average membership of Satanist covens is drawn from all the professions as well as from among politicians, clergy, and religious.

  We know further that within those covens, a certain amount of “specialization” has come about. One can choose either a heterosexual or a homosexual coven, for example. In at least three major cities, members of the clergy have at their disposal at least one pedophiliac coven peopled and maintained exclusively by and for the clergy. Women religious can find a lesbian coven maintained in a similar way.

  We know, too, that in many public schools in any major city, it is a virtual surety that there is at least one group of teenagers engaged in ritualist Satanism. And though we know very little—again for obvious reasons—about human sacrifice as an element in ritualist Satanism, we do know that in certain covens in which confidentiality is an absolute, life-or-death condition, the penalty for attempting to quit the coven is ritual death by knife, with one stab wound inflicted for every year of the offending member’s life.

  Hard admissible evidence concerning human sacrifice as an element in Satanist rituals is limited by the fact that disposal of human remains has been developed into one of the dark art forms within Satanist circles through use of portable incinerators and cremetoria; and because there are no birth or baptismal records—no records of existence—of intended Victim infants.

  Nevertheless, we have enormous amounts of anecdotal evidence indicating that some thousands of infants and children are intentionally conceived and born to serve as Victims in Satanist sacrificial rites. In the world of Satanist worship, boys are preferred as gender-replicas of the Christ Child. But girls are by no means excluded.

  In this regard, the emergence of child abuse as a characteristic of our time must claim particular attention. Not all—perhaps not even most—child abuse originates in ritualist Satanism per se. Each case must be weighed on the evidence. But the extent of child abuse in America today and the concrete evidence of Satanism as a factor in many such cases, begins to give some idea of the degree to which the inverted standards that are the prime hallmark of Satanist activity in any form—and of ritualist Satanism above all—have infiltrated and influenced all levels of our society.

  As horrifying as even that much information is—though it is not all of the information we have, by any means—still more shocking is the realization of the fact that in this, the America of the 1990s, one is never far from a center where such activity is carried out on a routine basis. No one lives far from some geographical area where some form of ritualistic Satanism is practiced. Ritualistic Satanism and its inevitable consequence, demonic Possession, are now part and parcel of the atmosphere of life in America.

  That a more favorable climate exists now than ever before for the occurrence of demonic Possession among the general population is so clear, that it is attested to daily by competent social and psychological experts, who for the most part, appear to have no “religious bias.”

  Our cultural desolation—a kind of agony of aimlessness coupled with a dominant self-interest—is documented for us in the disintegration of our families. In the breakup of our educational system. In the disappearance of publicly accepted norms of decency in language, dress and behavior. In the lives of our youth, everywhere deformed by stunning violence and sudden death; by teenage pregnancy; by drug and alcohol addiction; by disease; by suicide; by fear. America is arguably now the most violent of the so-called developed nations of the world.

  Parents do have every reason to be concerned, then. For above all, the greatest changes in the conditions in which we have come to live over the past twenty years or so have meant that young people are left as the most defenseless against the possibility of Possession. Raised more and more in an atmosphere where moral criticism is not merely out of fashion, but prohibited, they swim with little help in a veritable sea of pornography. Not merely sexual pornography, but the pornography of unmitigated self-interest. Whether spoken or acted out without explanation, the dominant question of the younger generations among us is, What can you do for me? What can my parents, my friends, my acquaintances, my enemies, my government, my country, do for me?

  The difficulty is that as individuals and as a society, we are no longer willing—many of us are no longer able—to give an answer to that question that will satisfy anyone for long.

  Such pervasive cultural desolation is the most fertile ground one could possible imagine for the causes of Possession to take root and flourish in almost unimpeded fre
edom. It is in this context that Satanism—including ritualized Satanism—is causing such justified fear among so many parents for their children. For, it is in that context that at least some may best be sought out by that Ancient Enemy of our race who, in the words St. Peter used in one of his letters, “prowls around like a lion seeking whom he can devour.”

  To describe the situation in which Satanist activity is flourishing around us is one thing. But it is essential to identify in an equally can-did manner at least a few of the major cultural and religious factors that have contributed most importantly to such a state of affairs.

  In doing so, it is difficult to resist the conclusion that the vigorous state of ritualist Satanism, and the difficulty of dealing with it effectively, are at least enhanced by the noticeably changed mentality among Christian churchmen. As a Roman Catholic priest, I speak most pointedly of Catholic bishops and priests. But there is responsibility enough to go around, alas.

  Exorcism, as exemplified in the five cases described in the pages of Hostage to the Devil, deals with a bodiless, genderless creature whom Jesus identified by name as Lucifer, and as Satan. A creature whom Jesus identified further as “the Father of Lies and a Murderer from the Beginning.” The existence and the activities of Satan are integral elements in traditional Roman Christianity, and in all other genuine forms of that religion.

  Originally an Archangel, Lucifer led a rebellion in disobedience to God and, with his legions of companion angels, was condemned out-right by God to Hell. In their state of eternal separation from their Creator, these creatures have always been known as demons.

  In God’s mysterious providence, Satan has a certain liberty to try to thwart God’s will that all men and women be cleansed of personal sin and die in God’s friendship and love.

  To the extent that Satan acquires a certain number of individuals as his worshippers and servants in this world, he is successful in his continuing rebellion. Further, such individuals as Lucifer acquires serve his purpose in willingly corrupting and co-opting other human beings to worship and serve him.

  Worship, as a word used in the Satanist context, like all other Satanist terms, mirrors both the mind and the intent of Lucifer himself. It connotes the contradictory—the pointed and intentional opposite—of its Christian meaning.

  The essence of Christian worship is love. The essence of Satanist worship is hate. For the Fallen Archangel now embodies a full hatred of being, as such. Hatred of life, love, beauty, happiness, truth—of all that makes existence the greatest possible good. Satanist worship is a celebration of all that.

  In broad outline, that is the basic knowledge and understanding of Satan, and of the Satanist agenda, that Christians have always had.

  Since Hostage to the Devil was first published in 1976, however, diminished belief among Christian churchmen—including, prominently, the Roman Catholic hierarchy and clergy—has relegated the very existence of Satan to the same fate as basic Roman Catholic and Christian teaching about Hell, angels, Purgatory, personal sin, and such essential Sacraments as Confession and the Eucharist.

  It has been said by one mainstream Protestant clergyman in this regard that—disagreement with the Roman Catholic Church not-withstanding—the Catholic Church was always the anchor. With that anchor lost, all flounder. Because so many in the Roman Catholic hierarchy no longer accept these beliefs—no longer either profess or teach accurate doctrine about the Sacraments, even—opposition to Satanism, including ritualistic Satanism, has been considerably diminished.

  On the other side of the coin—Lucifer’s side—the belief that he does not exist at all is an enormous advantage that he has never enjoyed to such a great degree. It is the ultimate camouflage. Not to believe in evil is not to be armed against it. To disbelieve is to be disarmed. If your will does not accept the existence of evil, you are rendered incapable of resisting evil. Those with no capacity of resistance become prime targets for Possession.

  Just as the practical impact of large numbers of faithful clergy among us was once so great, so now are the practical consequences for us all—believers and nonbelievers alike—of large numbers of unfaithful churchmen.

  Among the general population of Catholics and Christians of other denominations, large numbers of people no longer learn even so basic a prayer as the Our Father. In churches and parochial schools alike, the subject of Hell is avoided, as one midwestern priest put it, in order not to put people “on a guilt trip.” The idea of sin is likewise avoided, according to the same source, in order not to do “irreparable damage to what has been taught for the past fifteen years.”

  That much alone leaves every Christian at a profound and needless disadvantage in the confrontation with evil that life brings to each of us. Deeply felt prohibitions against mixing what is termed the “rational” with the faith that is necessary for the recognition of evil is, for many, an insurmountable obstacle. And without the grace that is born of true faith, Satan does what he does best—he ceases to exist in the eyes of those who do not see.

  Still, the most dramatic and immediate harm by far that results from such an extensive and pervasive lack of instruction falls upon the true and valid victims of Possession. The individual victims of personal evil, in their thousands.

  The Church is the only element in society with the authority and the availing remedy to counteract such manifest evil. If, then, the officials charged with this basic duty of the Church deny the very legacy of that Church—if they turn their backs even on Scriptural descriptions of Christ casting out demons; if they characterize those accounts as false and as literary license—then actual victims of true demonic activity are left with no hope.

  “If the salt has lost its saltiness,” St. Mark quotes Christ, “where-with will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another.” In a nutshell, that is the condition of some of our clergy; and it is the plight of the Possessed in America of the 1990s. If the Church Fathers no longer believe, then victims of demonic Possession have nowhere to turn. They have no place to seek the help they require and to which they have every right as afflicted Christians.

  To combine known, valid Possession with hopelessness must surely cause the worst kind of insanity, if not death. It is a terrible condemnation. But at least as terrible is that those very men whose vocation is to believe and carry out all that the Church has held since its beginning, have abandoned those they still profess to serve in the name of Christ.

  The circle of helplessness and suffering caused by such unfaith among churchmen does not stop with ordinary Christians and with the Possessed, however. It widens much further.

  Because of the nature of the outrages that occur in the course of ritualistic Satanism—some extreme cases of child abuse and serial killings are but two ready examples—officers of the law frequently enter the picture. Faced with undeniable evidence of a Satanist context—evidence such as Pentagrams, broken crucifixes, Satanist graffiti, and other such paraphernalia—law officers were once able to call on the help of clergymen expert in dealing with demonic Possession.

  Such help is rarely available today. Rather, ignorance, disinterest, disbelief, even adamant unwillingness on the part of many Church officials to so much as discuss demonic Possession and Exorcism, is literally the order of the day.

  In point of fact, in the Roman Catholic Church, the Order of the Exorcist—part of every priest’s ordination since time immemorial—has been omitted from the new rite of priestly ordination, as drawn up by innovators after 1964 in the wake of the Second Vatican Council.

  Because both demonic Possession and its remedy, the Rite of Exorcism, are thus seen by many officials and their advisors to be irrelevant—to be as negligible as, say, training in the use of a medieval astrolabe—many Catholic dioceses, large and small, in the United States have no official Exorcist.

  In some of the more fortunate dioceses, where priests bring in ad hoc Exorcists from out of town, the bishops of those dioceses know nothing and want to
know less. But if they are not exactly benign, at least they turn a blind eye. And as permission of the bishop is required for Exorcism to proceed, that blind eye can be, and is, taken as “tacit permission.”

  In other dioceses, however, bishops are expressly opposed to the rite of Exorcism. Even in such situations, there are priests who still bring Exorcists from out of town. Their canonical justification even here is that the bishop has given “presumed permission.” That is, if the bishop believed what he should believe as bishop, and further, if he knew about and recognized as valid a particular case of demonic Possession, then it can be presumed he would authorize the Exorcism.

  Such theological reasoning and canonical shenanigans are not only tortuous. They present a scenario that comes right out of the catacombs. For the result is what can only be called an Exorcism underground. A group of priests in one diocese networks in great and guarded secrecy with those of other dioceses, in order to fulfill their obligations to the faithful in need.

  Ecclesiastically, this situation gives rise to irregularities, to be sure. It also leads in some cases to unjustly imposed canonical sanctions by irate and unbelieving bishops who maintain that their authority is thus being flouted.

  Even in such difficult circumstances, however, the incidence of Exorcism has been on a steady rise. There has been a 750 percent increase in the number of Exorcisms performed between the early 1960s and the mid-1970s. Over the same period, there has been an alarming increase in the number of requested Possessions—that is, cases in which the Possessed formally request Satan to possess them—in comparison to the cases of incurred Possessions, which result from other sorts of activities of the Possessed that facilitate Possession.

  Each year, some 800 to 1,300 major Exorcisms, and some thousands of minor Exorcisms are performed. For experts in the field, this is a sobering barometer of the increase in known cases of Possession. But it is still more sobering to realize how many more cases of Possession cannot be addressed at all. The thousands of letters I receive from people who are desperate for help—Catholic, Protestant, Evangelical, and unchurched—are eloquent, anguished, and a steadily mounting testimony to the crisis.