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Question Title	Posted By	Question Date
Demonic Oppression and Sex Addiction	Gabriel	Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Question: Hello Brother Ignatius, For many years I was a porn addict. During those years, I also battled with scrupulosity. I could find no peace and could never be sure if I was in the state of grace. I should of found a spiritual advisor but I couldn't find the strength to obey my conscience. Eventually, I gave into despair and not only had thoughts of suicide, but I also stopped going to Church and practicing the faith. I was finally able to get the porn addiction under control and it remained that way for many years until just recently I relapsed. I am going to confession. I am convinced I cannot keep out of serious sin without the eucharist, which my srupulosity kept me awaw from all these years. This time I will tell the priest about my scrupulosity and hopefully I will find the strength to obey whatever he tells me and deal with the doubts that will follow. Here's my question: Do you think I may be demonically oppressed? I don't think I am possessed but I do think I meet some of the criteria of oppression: irrational fear, loneliness, anxiety; lack of sexual self control at time; loss of the fear of God; suicidal thoughts. Also on one occassion, just as I woke up in the morning, I could swear I heard some sort of voice shouting at me in what I could only describe as some sort of deep, guttural, supernatural, reverberating battle cry (couldn't tell if it was good or evil, just very supernatural and very loud). Should I tell the priest about these things and if I am demonically oppressed, what can be done about it? Do I need an exorcism? Thanks in advance and thanks for your ministry.
Question Answered by Dear Gabriel: Well, the first thing, if I may be blunt, is that you need to stop being an armchair deliverance counselor. You are not qualified to diagnosis yourself. I know that your OCD will pull you in this direction, but you must resist the urge. The Eucharist and Confession are the two best defenses in spiritual warfare. These Sacraments are also the most powerful healer of sexual addiction and bondage. Demons usually are hanging around any addiction, especially sexual addiction. Thus, the demons are not happy with you for overcoming your porn addiction. And thus, they will retaliate by trying to get you back into porn, by inspiring suicidal thoughts, by increasing your OCD tendencies, and by these parlor tricks of guttural sounds and the like. Your defense is to stay very close to the Church, frequent the Sacraments often by going to weekly Mass, or more often if you can. Also, spend some time in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, keep up your daily bible reading, devotions, and prayers. When you encounter what seems like a demonic attack, rebuke that demon. We are not allowed to ask a demon its name, but we can refer to the demon by attribute, such as the demon of lust, the demon of suicide, the demon of fear, etc. We have a prayer just for this purpose in our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog called Rebuking Particular Spirits. Use whatever prayers in the Catalog that are useful to you. You can tell your priest what you are experiencing, but do not diagnosis yourself. To diagnosis oppression requires a lot more information. Ask him to pray for you. Most likely this is an harassment, not an oppression, as a result of your ticking off the demons by overcoming your addiction. I would advise following our Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance, linked below. More-in-likely, following those seven steps will resolve your problem. We will be praying for you. God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.

Question Title

Posted By

Question Date

Demonic Oppression and Sex Addiction

Gabriel

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Question:

Hello Brother Ignatius,

For many years I was a porn addict. During those years, I also battled with scrupulosity. I could find no peace and could never be sure if I was in the state of grace. I should of found a spiritual advisor but I couldn't find the strength to obey my conscience.

Eventually, I gave into despair and not only had thoughts of suicide, but I also stopped going to Church and practicing the faith. I was finally able to get the porn addiction under control and it remained that way for many years until just recently I relapsed. I am going to confession.

I am convinced I cannot keep out of serious sin without the eucharist, which my srupulosity kept me awaw from all these years. This time I will tell the priest about my scrupulosity and hopefully I will find the strength to obey whatever he tells me and deal with the doubts that will follow.

Here's my question: Do you think I may be demonically oppressed? I don't think I am possessed but I do think I meet some of the criteria of oppression: irrational fear, loneliness, anxiety; lack of sexual self control at time; loss of the fear of God; suicidal thoughts.

Also on one occassion, just as I woke up in the morning, I could swear I heard some sort of voice shouting at me in what I could only describe as some sort of deep, guttural, supernatural, reverberating battle cry (couldn't tell if it was good or evil, just very supernatural and very loud).

Should I tell the priest about these things and if I am demonically oppressed, what can be done about it? Do I need an exorcism? Thanks in advance and thanks for your ministry.

Question Answered by

Dear Gabriel:

Well, the first thing, if I may be blunt, is that you need to stop being an armchair deliverance counselor. You are not qualified to diagnosis yourself. I know that your OCD will pull you in this direction, but you must resist the urge.

The Eucharist and Confession are the two best defenses in spiritual warfare. These Sacraments are also the most powerful healer of sexual addiction and bondage.

Demons usually are hanging around any addiction, especially sexual addiction. Thus, the demons are not happy with you for overcoming your porn addiction. And thus, they will retaliate by trying to get you back into porn, by inspiring suicidal thoughts, by increasing your OCD tendencies, and by these parlor tricks of guttural sounds and the like.

Your defense is to stay very close to the Church, frequent the Sacraments often by going to weekly Mass, or more often if you can. Also, spend some time in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, keep up your daily bible reading, devotions, and prayers.

When you encounter what seems like a demonic attack, rebuke that demon. We are not allowed to ask a demon its name, but we can refer to the demon by attribute, such as the demon of lust, the demon of suicide, the demon of fear, etc. We have a prayer just for this purpose in our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog called Rebuking Particular Spirits.

Use whatever prayers in the Catalog that are useful to you.

You can tell your priest what you are experiencing, but do not diagnosis yourself. To diagnosis oppression requires a lot more information. Ask him to pray for you. Most likely this is an harassment, not an oppression, as a result of your ticking off the demons by overcoming your addiction.

I would advise following our Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance, linked below. More-in-likely, following those seven steps will resolve your problem.

We will be praying for you.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.