Exorcist Diary #235: Did demons kill Jesus?

["Christ Crucified," Diego Velázquez, 1632]

I was going on an overseas trip. During an exorcism session immediately before the flight, the demons threatened to kill me. They said, "We are going to crash your plane." Later, when the pilot announced that the plane had mechanical problems, it reminded me of the demons' threat. But we were never in any real danger.

Our Team and the possessed are regularly threatened by demons. They will typically tell the possessed: "If you keep seeing that exorcist, we will kill you!" Then they promise,:"But if you stop praying, we will leave you alone." The former is an empty threat; the latter is a lie.

A close reading of the New Testament might yield several times when the demons tried to have Jesus killed. For example, after Jesus said, "Before Abraham came to be, I AM," people picked up stones to throw at him but he slipped away (Jn 8:58-59). Or in Nazareth, Jesus criticized the townspeople for their lack of faith. "They were all filled with fury" and attempted to throw him over a hill. Again he walked away (Lk 4:28-30).

Finally Jesus' hour had come and he was delivered into the hands of evil men (Lk 24:7; Mt 17:12; Mk 9:31). The Scriptures are clear that this was inspired by Satan: "The devil had already induced Judas ... to hand him over" (Jn 13:2). Some time ago, in the midst of an exorcism when I invoked the power of Jesus' resurrection, the demons jubilantly shouted, "We won! We won! He didn't rise!" The Team scoffed and I added, "This demon needs a history lesson."*

Demons are not allowed to directly kill anyone, despite their blusterings and narcissistic posturing. However, they can and do inspire humans to do their bidding. This demon claimed victory when humans crucified Jesus by saying, "We won."

But to the demons' eternal frustration, everything that evil does, by its very nature, is self-defeating. Their ultimate defeat is in the resurrection of Jesus which is the triumph of grace. Evil is blind to grace which they cannot see or fathom.

We, too, ought to take consolation in that everything that comes our way, including the sometimes tormenting machinations of demons and their minions, will be a source of grace when delivered into the hands of God. Like Jesus we pray, "Father, thy will be done" (Lk 22:42) and "Into thy hands I commend my spirit" (Lk 23:46).

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*See Diary of an American Exorcist, p. 143.

**Register for our free online deliverance session Monday May 8th at 7-8pm Eastern USA time (the same as New York City). Register here or: https://www.catholicexorcism.org/event-details/may-8th-online-deliverance-prayer-session