How to Rebuke Satan

About Joyce Meyer and the like prosperity preachers I found this:
,,
10. Jesus wants me to be rich! “Prosperity gospel," also known as "Commodity fetishism," is an odd, easily disproved heresy. It boggles the mind to think some people who are even vaguely familiar with the Bible will swallow this nonsense hook, line and sinker, all to their own spiritual peril.

Christ Himself insisted that it is indeed very difficult for a rich man to enter the Gates of Heaven. (Matthew 19:23-26) This passage might be open to some interpretation but it can't be so twisted as to mean the exact opposite of what Christ said. In addition, Christ repeats Himself in His parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man (also known as Dives, which simply means "rich man" in Latin.) (Luke 16:19-31) this is pretty damning proof…if you'll excuse the pun.

There is an unfortunate aspect of some strains of Protestantism that predate American Puritanism which used Scriptures to justify wealth as a reward from God and a clear sign of holiness and godliness. Job was often brought up as an example of an individual who was given wealth as a reward for his closeness to God. With the advent of evangelical Christianity in the early 20th century, some ministers have gone even further and explicitly made the connection between personal piety and financial success. Aimee Semple McPherson was one such example. Throughout the 70s and 80s, televangelists such as like Jim/Tammy Fay Bakker, Terry Smith, Jimmy Swaggart, Oral Roberts, Bob Larson, Robert Tilton, Billy James Hargis, W.V. Grant, Mike Warnke, Paul Crouch, Bob Larson, John Avanzini and Casey Treat have all been caught fleecing their gullible flocks with their unorthodox and even sacrilegious thinking before they were ingloriously brought down by scandal. Joyce Meyer, T.D. Jakes and the aptly named Creflo Dollar are the most recent shameless purveyors of the "prosperity gospel."

To be clear, wealth can be a blessing from God if it is earned honestly. Ill-gotten gain has nothing to do with God. In fact, one would need to eschew God from their lives to start raking it in. It's important to not confuse worldliness with holiness. ,,

Source:
,,15 More Errors That Catholics Should Avoid Like the Plague,,

 

I would advise EXTREME caution when it comes to directly rebuking Satan. This article from the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology states:

"In some Protestant books on deliverance, one is encouraged to speak directly to, and command, the demons. This is imprecatory prayer, a direct command. It is critical to understand that imprecatory prayer directly commands a demon, which is a tacit acceptance to a personal battle with that demon, while deprecatory prayer asks God to act against the demon. The Catholic Church has understood that the full authority to command demons was given to the Twelve Apostles, therefore a priest needs Apostolic authority given to him by a bishop before he engages in a battle with a demon." (emphasis added)​

Later in the article, the author (Adam Blai, an auxiliary member of the International Association of Exorcists in Rome), notes that there have even been cases of lay people become possessed themselves while attempting to perform minor exorcisms over possessed people. He adds that the Church provides deliverance from demonic oppression primarily through the sacraments and spiritual direction.

If you do feel that your situation calls for an immediate rebuking of Satan, I found the following prayer on the website catholic.org:

"Heavenly Father, I ask You in the name, and through the Blood of Your Divine Son, to rebuke Satan for taking captive that which belongs to You.
I ask Jesus to place His Crown of thorns around (Name the person) so that those with wrong influences will lose interest and depart.
Mary Mother of Jesus, place your mantle of love around, (your son and/or your daughter.)
Amen.

St. Michael, protect them."​

While this prayer is for the protection of one's children, the wording could easily be adapted to make it for oneself. Notice that the language of the prayer calls upon God to rebuke Satan on our behalf; it doesn't try to speak to Satan at all. This avoids what Blai described above as "imprecatory prayer."

Still, I think there are three good points in PatrickJames's post:

1) Temptation is Satan's lie. It tells us that something evil is good.
2) God is infinitely stronger than Satan and will triumph of him in all things.
3) We should fill our minds with whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, whatever is excellent and worthy of praise, instead of just focusing on the sins we are resisting.

I like the "15 more errors" errors article, so much that I will link it and it's accompanying article here:

https://www.ncregister.com/blog/astagnaro/15-more-errors-that-catholics-should-avoid-like-the-plague
https://www.ncregister.com/blog/ast...s-that-catholics-should-avoid-like-the-plague

 

The fact that Catholic Church has an ecumenical dialogue with Protestant churches doesn't mean that Catholic Church resigned from her doctrinal teaching and doesn't mean that RCC said that Protestant churches have no errors in their teaching and practise. For example - there is no consecration of bread and wine into Body and Blood of Christ in Protestant churches because they have no priesthood understood as apostolic succession which was broken. And other errors in their teaching.

Nobody can claim that the activity and teaching of Joyce Meyer is good and safe for Catholics untill an official Catholic commission apointed by a bishop investigates it and states - nihil obstat - nothing against Catholic faith. As far as I know no commission was appointed.

We can use the word Protestant or avoid it but it won't change the fact that Protestant teaching is not in full agreement with RCC teaching and practise and it won't change the fact that some areas in Protestant teaching are erronious or not certain.
What is certain in 100% is only Catholic teaching (official theology) - I don't mean here many ''Catholic'' theologians or some priests who write and proclaim things which are contrary to Catholic dogmas, faith and practise. They can call themselves Catholics but they ceased to be after they contradicted the official teaching of RCC (councils, encyclics, cathechism of RCC ..)

 

I think it's important to remember that Jesus didn't just hand us a book -- he established a Church, and the book came through the Church and should be interpreted in light of the teaching of the Church that gave it to us. Someone like Joyce Meyer can read a passage from the Bible and guess what it means, but she does so without regard for the Church's traditional understanding of the meaning of that passage and is therefore quite likely to get it wrong. It is like using a map without a compass. You could still make a mistake even with a compass, but at least you have some context for the map.

To understand who has what authority over demons, it is important that we look to the Magisterium. Here is what the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1673, says about performing exorcisms:

When the Church asks publicly and authoritatively in the name of Jesus Christ that a person or object be protected against the power of the Evil One and withdrawn from his dominion, it is called exorcism. Jesus performed exorcisms and from him the Church has received the power and office of exorcizing. In a simple form, exorcism is performed at the celebration of Baptism. The solemn exorcism, called "a major exorcism," can be performed only by a priest and with the permission of the bishop. The priest must proceed with prudence, strictly observing the rules established by the Church. Exorcism is directed at the expulsion of demons or to the liberation from demonic possession through the spiritual authority which Jesus entrusted to his Church. Illness, especially psychological illness, is a very different matter; treating this is the concern of medical science. Therefore, before an exorcism is performed, it is important to ascertain that one is dealing with the presence of the Evil One, and not an illness. (Emphasis added.)
​

As laypeople, we have NO authority to cast out demons and can do more harm than good playing at it. We can ask Jesus to drive away a demon in accordance with His will, but the demon has no reason to listen to you if you command it. Attempting to order demons around without the proper authority could well be an act of pride in addition to being futile.

 

If there is a conflict between our conscience and the official teaching ( not a private interpretation of a priest) of RCC then we must accept the official teaching if we want to remain Catholics.
Human conscience is not an absolute and infallible authority.
There are many instancies in the lives of believers which showed that their conscience is ill formed or that they are looking only for excuses to favour their will to the will of God expressed by the teaching of Church.

For example in my country I can find tons of Catholics who say that premarital sex is no sin but love because their conscience says so. The same with contraception - many say - it is not in the Bible and priests have no families and don't understand marital life etc. Their conscience says that they are right.
To be Catholic is to accept tenits of faith and morality given by the Church even if our mind, experience or conscience don't want to accept this.
If we prefer what our conscience says to what the Church says it means that we put our logic, mind, intelligence over the Catholic Church. This is called the pride of human mind.
Some Catholics murdered Jews during WWII because their conscience said to them that it was good and useful.

In conclusion - the cathechism of RCC is too an official teaching of Catholic Church. If someone doesn't accept some points of the cathechism they ceased to be Catholics.
It doesn't mean that they automatically ceased to be Christians.
Everybody is free. There is no must to be a Catholic. But if anybody wants to then they must accept all that RCC teaches.

At the end something practical. I have been for 9 years a member of some anti - pmo foras and read journals of hundreds or maybe over a thousand of their members. Nowhere I found a member who was set free by rebuking satan although some Protestants on these foras sometimes propagated the rebuking.

 

Hi mkj,

Nothing here has been changed. No layperson is allowed to exorcism, and only apointed priests.

You don't give the name of the document. If it existed it would have been published online free like all official Vatican documents. Beside of this official teaching mustn't contradict another document which is much more important - that is - the Cathechism of RCC. If the point was changed then it would have been changed in the Cathechism too.
Cathechism of RCC is an official teaching of the Church but a document of a theological commission ( without the name) is not. If it's true then it can be a local decision but why contradicting the Cathechism?

Deliverence is not the same as exorcism, but even in deliverence lay people aren't allowed to say something to the devil directly. They beg Jesus for deliverence of a person.

You quote a short sentence without a broader context. Either the context is different or the sentence is contradictory to the Cathechism of RCC which forbids lay people saying to demonts something directly. Once again, a book, even Catholic one is not a document of official teaching of the Church. It can be an error of a local bishop. In Germany for example many bishops contradict the official teaching of the Church in some aspects. For example in vast areas of Germany there is no confession at church. They should according to the local bishops confess at the beginning of Mass generally ( general confession which is according to the official teaching only for venial sins but grave ones must be confessed to priests in the Sacramect of Penance). It's a grave violation against the official teaching of the Church.

Yes, it is and it always was true but it doesn't mean that laypeople are allowed to tell something demons directly or to command them.They can and should ask Jesus for setting free, or pray to Mary or archangel Michael for deliverence.

PS, I admire that you, being 60 + years enslaved, still fight and don't give up. What I wrote in my previous and this post is nothing against you. I simply have another opinion about the matter.
I wish you all the best.

 

Umm, no. A discipline is something the Church has the divine authority to change, such as the order of the Mass or fasting regulations. This is the Church's teaching about to whom Christ gave authority over demons. The Church cannot change what Jesus meant and give laypeople authority over demons any more than it can give laypeople the authority to absolve people of their sins.

Pope Paul VI warns of this misguided understanding of primacy of conscience in Humanae Vitae. Primacy of conscience doesn't mean that it's okay do whatever you want as long as you thing the Church is wrong. We are obligated to form our consciences in light of Church teaching.

If you are convinced the teaching is wrong, it would seem you reject the Church's authority to teach. Nothing new there -- heresy has been around just about as long as Christianity.

As for whether it's full-blown possession, that's not the point. A minor exorcism is when you as Jesus to rebuke a demon, which Jesus of course can do. A major exorcism is when a priest -- with the permission of the bishop -- or the bishop himself rebukes a demon in the case of oppression or possession.

I wouldn't keep pushing this if this weren't a Catholic forum, but in a Catholic forum, when someone claims to be a Catholic in Communion with the Church while rejecting Church teaching, whether it's on authority over demons or the appropriateness of honoring the Blessed Mother, it can lead other Catholics into error. Even if you can't see why you're wrong here, at least enough information has been presented here, I believe, to show others who might be seeking truth to see why you are wrong.

 

I refer those who are open to what the Church really teaches to the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops: https://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/sacraments-and-sacramentals/sacramentals-blessings/exorcism

As the document explains, laity may perform what are known as simple or minor exorcisms, just like the Catechism says. We cannot perform major exorcisms, where we are ordering demons around, even in the name of Jesus.

The USCCB offers a book titled "Prayers Against the Powers of Darkness" that contains the complete text of “Supplications Which May Be Used by the Faithful Privately in Their Struggle Against the Powers of Darkness,” which is Appendix II of "Exorcisms and Related Supplications," the ritual book used by exorcists. ("Exorcisms and Related Supplications" is only sold to bishops in the United States, because only bishops can perform major exorcisms.")

What is worth noting is that, according to the page about the book on the USCCB site, "Prayers Against the Powers of Darkness" contains the following:

Prayers to God for Protection
Invocations to the Holy Trinity
Invocations to Our Lord Jesus Christ
Invocations to the Blessed Virgin Mary
St. Michael the Archangel Prayer
Litanies

Note that these are all intercessory prayers, not prayers where we are presuming the authority to order demons around.

Yes, strive to expel demonic influence from your life, but do it in harmony with Church teaching. Don't puff yourself up with pride and assume authority you don't have, and then resent the Church for stating the fact that you don't have it. The evil one would like nothing more than to tear you away from the Church through your own pride; don't let him have that influence, under the guise of you having authority over him.

 

Also, Canon Law, 1172:
Can. 1. No one can perform exorcisms legitimately upon the possessed unless he has obtained special and express permission from the local ordinary.

§2. The local ordinary is to give this permission only to a presbyter who has piety, knowledge, prudence, and integrity of life.

 

I found this below on a Vatican site:

CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH

Letter to Ordinaries
regarding norms on Exorcism



29 September 1985

Your most Reverend Excellency,

Recent years have seen an increase in the number of prayer groups in the Church aimed at seeking deliverance from the influence of demons, while not actually engaging in real exorcisms. These meetings are led by lay people, even when a priest is present.

As the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has been asked how one should view these facts, this Dicastery considers it necessary to inform Bishops of the following response:

1. Canon 1172 of the Code of Canon Law states that no one can legitimately perform exorcisms over the possessed unless he has obtained special and express permission from the local Ordinary (§ 1), and states that this permission should be granted by the local Ordinary only to priests who are endowed with piety, knowledge, prudence and integrity of life (§ 2). Bishops are therefore strongly advised to stipulate that these norms be observed.

2. From these prescriptions it follows that it is not even licit that the faithful use the formula of exorcism against Satan and the fallen angels, extracted from the one published by order of the Supreme Pontiff Leo XIII, and even less that they use the integral text of this exorcism. Bishops should take care to warn the faithful, if necessary, of this.

3. Finally, for the same reasons, Bishops are asked to be vigilant so that – even in cases that do not concern true demonic possession – those who are without the due faculty may not conduct meetings during which invocations, to obtain release, are uttered in which demons are questioned directly and their identity sought to be known.

Drawing attention to these norms, however, should in no way distance the faithful from praying that, as Jesus taught us, they may be delivered from evil (cf. Mt 6:13). Finally, Pastors may take this opportunity to recall what the Tradition of the Church teaches concerning the role proper to the sacraments and the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, of the Angels and Saints in the Christian’s spiritual battle against evil spirits.

I take the opportunity to express my deepest respects,

Your most esteemed in Christ,



Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
Prefect

Source: https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/...s/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19850924_exorcism_en.html

 

!mjk! It appears I owe you an apology. From further research, I was wrong on a few points:

1) The Church's restrictions on who may perform exorcisms is indeed a discipline, not a teaching. That means it could theoretically change. However, because the Church has the authority to bind and loose, if we as lay people perform public minor exorcisms or attempt any major exorcisms, we do so in disobedience to the Church and therefore will not have that authority. That discipline is in place for the good of the faithful, as many people have created further problems with demons by attempting exorcisms with the wrong disposition or through not knowing what they were doing.

2) While lay people are restricted from exercising authority over demons, they do have authority over their own bodies, the body of their spouse, and their children. They can say simple prayers ordering a demon to go away from themselves, their spouse or their children. Those would be private, minor exorcisms, not public. However, we are forbidden by the Church from attempting to dialogue with, get information from, or bind demons. The OP's original prayer was probably okay as far as ordering the demon to go away but would seem to cross the line at ordering the demon to bow to the name of Jesus.

3) That said, all the recommended prayers I have found from the bishops (our shepherds in the Church) are intercessory, even those geared toward protecting oneself or one's family from demonic influence. Catholic demonologist Adam Blai within the Church similarly discourages us from attempting to directly order demons, because he's seen people driven by pride get themselves possessed by demons that way. Why not ask Jesus to do the work, since it would only be through his power that the demon would be compelled to leave anyway?

As far as the book you recommend goes, I'd be happy to see what the committee has to say if it were available online, but it would seem to supersede the authority of canon law or the bishops anyway.

Again, I am sorry for the points that I overstated. It still strongly feel that while I was wrong on the points above, the approach I recommended is in fact what the Church recommends for laypeople.

 

Even in light of my corrections noted above, this prayer would be completely in disobedience to the Church and demons would therefore be free to ignore it. That is a public prayer of exorcism over someone over which you have no authority, namely me.

 

Really good spiritual warfare knowledge by Joyce Meyer.

 

Brother, first let me say I regret having responded with what could be seen as, and probably was, anger, and/or impatience, and/or insulting, etc. I am currently editing and deleting posts like that in the process of handling my anger issues. We don't agree on what the Church teaches regarding deliverance, both in the correct way to speak about it and what is actually Church teaching (I think I said that correctly). I pray for you. Please pray for me.
Here is a link to the book on deliverance ministry.
https://www.amazon.com/Deliverance-Ministry-International-Catholic-Charismatic/dp/096773777X/ref=sr_1_2?crid=9J96FW15AFE3&dchild=1&keywords=deliverance+ministry+international+catholic+charismatic&qid=1604408397&sprefix=catholic+charismatic+d,aps,171&sr=8-2