Evil is manifesting at a quick rate, and we need to know how to battle these spirits.

Father Gabriele Amorth

Father Gabriele Amorth  was an exorcist for the Diocese of Rome. This may be an uncomfortable subject, but after reading an article about the death of Father Amorth, I feel we need to be aware of Satan and how he operates.

In his lifetime Father Amorth performed more than 70,000 exorcism rites. “As a Christian I fight the beast spiritually,” Fr. Amorth said. “Biblically speaking we are in the Last Days. The beast is working furiously, he is Satan himself and he is working through ISIS.” Father Amorth stated “ISIS is Satan.” He added that “things first happen in the spiritual realm, then they are made concrete on this earth.”  He said that, “Evil is disguised in various political, cultural and religious ways, with one source of inspiration in the devil.” Along with ISIS we can add Hamas, Boko Haram, drug Cartels, and Antifa all who suppress their people.

Our country is fighting so many of Satan’s minions that we have to keep our families covered in prayer. Until this battle is over, we continue to intercede in hopes that people will turn to the Lord for direction. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to constantly guide our every path.

Demon Possessed

If you are following this blog, in 2005 our team traveled to Croatia where we had an encounter with a demon-possessed person. These demons manifested  in a beautiful young lady. After midnight when our prayer session was over and Joanne (our group leader) was still praying, suddenly a loud crashing sound filled the basketball gymnasium.  I looked over to catch the sight of a chair flying across the room and landing on the wooden floors.

This was not a natural occurrence.  The young lady’s body was tossed high in the air and landed on the floor. Her body was now the property of Satan. I had never witnessed anything like this! The tormented soul’s movements were unnatural. At one point the evil spirits were strangling her with her own hands!  She fought back kicking, but she didn’t get relief until Robert, a team member, removed her hands from her neck.

We formed a circle around her and prayed in the spirit, but when Joanne commanded these demons to leave, their response was “Nunca! Nunca es mia!” in a growling, manly voice. In Spanish “Nunca es mia” means “Never, never she’s mine.”  All my senses were on high alert.  The diabolical voice was sending shivers up and down my spine, making the hair on my arms rise with goose bumps. Never in my life had I experienced this type of diabolic behavior, so I was terrified.

Shaking In My Shoes

I was shaken and knew that it was going to get worse because the demons were refusing to leave her body. The voice of this demon was that of a strong male with a raspy sound. This voice did its  job by making sure we were intimidated.

The young lady’s body was twisting and curving her spine like a startled cat; with these turns came body slams.  Joanne asked me to get a bag; I quickly ran to the trash and found a discarded one, but I didn’t know  why she needed it. By the time I got back someone else had already provided a bag. Joanne asked us to place the bag near  the young lady’s mouth because she was about to vomit.  No one, including me, wanted to get near the demons.  This was new to most of us, and we didn’t know what to expect.

The Exorcist

Just then a priest from Serbia gently made his way to the girl, sprinkling holy water on her. This only incited the demons because the main demon screamed in a shrieking voice “NO! NO! She’s mine! She’s mine!” This went on for some time. The demons spoke in Croatian, Spanish and English (Luke 8:30).  No one from either team left their station. We stood united and backed up the priest in prayer until the young lady returned to a state of normalcy.

The priest from Serbia must have been an exorcist because he was equipped with some type of thick oil. When he anointed her forehead,  it calmed the spirits. The young lady sat on a chair as Joanne asked her how she was. Her amber colored hair was disheveled, she had dark circles under her eyes, but she simply answered, “I’m so tired.” I could not help but feel compassion for her and her boyfriend as they walked away.

The Curse

Why was she possessed? She shared with Joanne that her mother put a curse on her. According to Father Amorth, generational curses are transmitted from one generation to another. Father Amorth added that, this was especially true especially if the curse is issued by a father or a mother against a son, his marriage, and future children.

Opening Demonic Doors

There are many other ways that demons enter people. Many times we innocently invite them in by reading horoscopes, or allowing children to read books with witches/warlocks and curses and play video games with demons, zombies or any thing having to do with the occult. These are all open doors for demons to come in because we have given them permission.

Any New Age beliefs, curses brought on by others, and curses in the bloodline are other means for demons to come in.  Fortune-telling, and, of course, the abuse of drugs, and alcohol and pornography are avenues that demons enter in. They are an open door and welcome mat; they don’t need much.

Mind-Controlling Demons

Alcohol or substance abuse causes your thoughts to become altered. Demons surface and take control of your mind. We have all seen the poor souls who have taken Fentanyl. They resemble the walking dead.

When people abuse drugs and alcohol, their minds are altered and they are no longer in control. This is when the demonic spirits come in and take over. These are called familiar spirits because they know when to surface and they can be very combative and controlling. These spirits are dangerous because they lead to deep sin. In my experience with the homeless for over  20 years, it is evident that many were filled with these types of spirits. Because of the drugs and alcohol abuse, they have allowed the spirits to live comfortably inside them. They believed the lie of the Enemy and therefore lived the life of a recluse.

Biblical Warnings

The Bible is very clear on the use of horoscopes:

My Prayer  

Dear Heavenly Father, I thank You for removing all our doubts about demonic activity. I pray that You continue to give us discernment to be able to fight this ongoing battle. Amen.

336 From infancy to death human life is surrounded by their watchful care and intercession.²⁰² “Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life.”²⁰³ Already here on earth the Christian life shares by faith in the blessed company of angels and men united in God.  Catechism of the Catholic Church

I never paid attention to any close calls as a child, so as an adult I came to the realization that I was protected by my guardian angel. The most recent incident occurred as I was making a left-hand turn onto a busy intersection. For some unusual reason I thought that the car to the right had a stop sign, but it did not.  As I started the left-hand turn, the car to my right was driving straight ahead. In a nanosecond we both made it through the intersection without any type of accident, where it should have been a major collision.

No brakes, no crash, just a smooth passage. It was as if something supernatural had occurred. Making eye contact with the driver and his female passenger, we were in a state of shock. No ugly words were exchanged, no nasty hand gestures,  just a look of unbelievable gratitude as we passed by each other. Admittedly if there had been a collision, it would have definitely been my fault. In disbelief I thanked my guardian angel for his protection.

A few summers ago Mike and I attended  an Angel’s game. Our seats were located on right field. This is the area where many spectators come with baseball gloves to catch foul balls. Mike was a little too apprehensive and kept warning me to pay attention to the game. But instead of paying attention to the game, I was looking through my phone and started to delete photos. In spite of Mike’s warning, I continued deleting photos. Anyway, if a ball came my way there were plenty of people around us with gloves to catch it.

I remembered we had two extra tickets. We offered them to Sonja and Russ, but they are a party of four. So instead the tickets were given to Russ’ friend and his son.

Well, that which Mike feared most came to pass. A hard-hit foul ball came directly at me. There was no warning, and because I turned away at the last second, it missed my face but I did feel the force of the ball pass through my hair as it rushed past me. For a moment those around me thought for sure I was hit in the face; instead the ball landed near the young son of Russ’ friend.

At Angels Stadium my Guardian Angel had saved my life again.

Darren’s Guardian Angel

With each missionary trip I would bring back so many religious souvenirs. I would load up my friends and family with blessed medals, rosaries and holy cards. I had given my friend a rosary ring to give to her son Darren. Darren’s family had moved from the Los Angeles area, but his roots were in a suburb of Los Angeles. He and a group of friends started a car club there. They were flashy, and rode around in their ostentatious vehicles like they owned the streets. The other car clubs struggled with their arrogance and wanted to show them who was boss in the Los Angeles car clubs.

One evening Darren and his girlfriend Susan stopped for gas. From his rearview mirror, Darren noticed a Lexus filled with big, scary guys from a rival car club. When Darren got out of the car to gas up, when he noticed the driver pull out a gun. He quickly got back into his vehicle and a car chase ensued.

Darren did not want to scare Susan, but he knew they were in trouble. He mistakenly pulled into a dead-end street. With the gangsters slowly creeping behind them, Darren instructed Susan to jump out of the car. Then he remembered the rosary ring in his pocket.  He grabbed it as he and Susan started to run toward a 10-foot chain link fence leading to a riverbed.

He does not remember if he called the police or not, but suddenly the police appeared out of nowhere. The Lexus with the gang bangers left the scene. Darren knew that he had indeed been saved by his prayers and his guardian angel. After this incident their car club dismantled. Darren was taught a life lesson on how not to flaunt his blessings.

Torie’s Angels

Our nephew Torie used to suffer from cluster headaches. This type of headache is so severe that they are referred to as suicide headaches. He suffered from these headaches a couple of times a year. The frequency of thes headaches lasted from three to four days a month.  The duration of the pain lasted from thirty minutes to an hour.  There is no cure for these headaches and, because they are not life-threatening, the medication offers little relief.

Once while Torie was experiencing a cluster headache, he became so sick, that he vomited and  suffered with every movement. He was on the floor of the bathroom but, due to the intensity of the pain, he could not get up. Then something supernatural occurred. Torie said that he saw seven small angels. He felt his arms  lifted as the angels picked him off the floor hand helped him to his bed. Torie is 6′ 2″ and weights 225 pounds. Now he no longer suffers from these cluster headaches.

My Prayer

Dear Lord, nothing is impossible with You. You send us, Your children protective love–love from heaven emanating from our Guardian Angels. Lord, keep us and our families from harm. May we remember to call on our Guardian Angels. Amen.

It all started in late May.

The Tenants

For eighteen years we rented our home to a lovely family. In May they informed us that they had purchased a home. We were blessed to have this family living in our home for so long.

Mike made an annual trip to check in on the property, and when all went well they signed another one-year lease.  We knew the home needed updating, but we could not remodel due to the renters’ occupancy. Purchasing a washer and dryer plus kitchen appliances was the best we could do. Much to our surprise, this family purchased a home five doors down the street.

This Old House

Our house was built in 1952, making it 73 years old. We specifically purchased this home because we had a distribution company in Santa Barbara. The purchase price was a little over $200,000 for the property.

Our son Mikos lived in the house while attending college. While he was living there, the house accidentally caught on fire. Three days after the fire, Santa Barbara experienced the worse rain storm in 50 years. With two different insurance claims we replaced most of  the windows and  a new roof. That was over twenty-five years ago. Now this house needs a complete remodel.

The Novice Crew

Together Mike and I had no clue about remodeling a home; however, we love watching DIY (Do It Yourself) home renovation programs and had an idea of what we wanted.

On our first trip to Santa Barbara we had an appointment with a vacation rental group. We thought this remodeling job would be over and done with in a few months. Our idea was to make it a vacation rental, but we quickly found out that the cost to do this would exceed our expenses.  For instance we would have to pay the city a 12% fee, and that did not include the 20% fee from the vacation rental group!

Brother George

My brother George is a contractor in Palm Desert. If he could he would have taken on this project, but logistically this was  impossible. He guided us through all these estimates, and we are so grateful for his input.

Contractor Number One

Later that morning we drove around our neighborhood and stopped to look at a remodel on Shoreline Drive. This street faces the Pacific Ocean. The owner of the home happened to be there and invited us in. This remodel was over a half million; our budget was nothing by comparison. Nevertheless, her contractor was gracious enough to come to our home and give us a preview of what our cost would entail. He walked around and gave us a number that was way out of our budget. The realization of the expense for a remodel in Santa Barbara was kicking in.

We did glean some great advice from this homeowner: we could save money by hiring a draftsperson rather than an architect.

We visited Santa Barbara’s County Clerk Office to look for our property’s original plans., but with over 500 computerized pages it was overwhelming.

Chava

Our guide was Chava, who knows the ins and outs of the city. As owners we had to sign documents for Chava to find the correct information. What a relief! Chava serves as the liaison between us and the city. She knows what permits need to be pulled in order to start the project.

Within a week Chava had the blueprints for the remodel. In the meantime we were still in search of a contractor.

The Contractors

Santa Barbara is a high-end community, so many of these contractors are accustomed to working on major projects. Our project cost pennies compared to a remodel in Montecito or Hope Ranch.

On another visit we met with a new contractor; he was braggadocios, telling us how he was living in Montecito but remodeling his home not far from us. His ideas were as big as his head, so when he left I wanted so badly to say,”Don’t let the door hit you in the ass.”

We had another appointment with a kind young man that we both took a liking to. He seemed to want the job, and he actually took the time to go over a plan. I remember driving home and feeling that finally we found someone we could trust.  We were instructed to purchase our appliances so that the job could start. Phase one was complete!

All was going in the right direction until the quote came in. It was way over our budget! One thing that was non-negotiable was the second bathroom. By the time we received the new estimate, we were told to go to some massive warehouse to pick out kitchen cabinets and windows, and we could forget about the second bathroom! I cried all the way home.

Father and Son

Mike was diligent and continued the hunt for a new contractor. When this father and son came in, I knew unequivocally that this job was too small for them. He immediately explained that we needed to hire a structural engineer. He lost us with those words; besides  every word that came out of his mouth was followed by an awkward laugh. No thank you! Bye, bye! Again I cried on the way home.

Contractor Number Four

It was mid-August and still we did not have a contractor.

It was well into the evening, and as I was sitting in my living room praying, I heard a light knock on the front door. Mike was already in bed. I walked up to the door and asked, “Who is it?”  “It’s your neighbor Chuck. Are you watering?” he asked. It turned out that we forgot to turn off the sprinklers on that side of the house, and it was flooding his yard. With a flashlight in hand, he helped me turn off the faucet.

Chuck looked at the appliances and asked, “What’s going on?” Though he was a stranger, I shared about the contractor dilemma. He quickly referred me to yet another contractor; I’ll call him Jim. Jim was different, he works on these homes, he added a second bathroom to Chuck’s home, and he lives in our neighborhood. Honestly, this man was an answer to our prayers.

Contractor Number Five

The following morning I could not wait to share the wonderful news. I wanted Mike to contact Jim as soon as possible. Mike texted him and he quickly replied. We met, he took our plans and we gave him the key to our house. I was praising God all the way home!  When he ended the text with a praying hands emoji, I was sure that this was a confirmation from God.

Labor Day Weekend

Mikos and Jenny were going to spend the weekend with us in Santa Barbara. I could not stop talking about Jim and could not wait for them to meet him.

When Jim arrived with the world’s smallest note pad, I knew we were in trouble. Why he did not have an estimate we will never know. His suggestions were outrageous! He wanted to remove all the walls to rewire, and he suggested that we needed a new roof. I looked at him and said, “The roof is not leaking.” He added, “Well, eventually it will be.” Under my breath I wanted to tell him that eventually Jesus will return! To say that we were disappointed is an understatement!

The Flooring Company

In the meantime Mike was talking to Kathy, who owns a flooring business, and her husband, who is a contractor. These conversations were taking place between the second and third contractors. Kathy explained to Mike that they never turn away a small remodel, and that we should give her a chance.

By this time I had given up all hope on the second bathroom,  but she captured our attention with her tenacity. She told Mike that the second bathroom was essential. Then she presented us with drawings of a lovely kitchen and main bath remodel plus the second bathroom in the plans. We have met with her over four times, and this last week we introduced her to Chava. Between the two of them the work will start soon.

Southern California Edison

Mike had contacted Edison about a new electrical box in July. After communicating with Edison, he was informed that the earliest they could accommodate our needs would be in late November.

Coastal Property

We are learning something new every step of the way. Coastal properties are in another category, so the permits are different,

The Long Walks

Above all we take long, daily walks, the most rewarding part of this project. We eat one main meal, either lunch or dinner; and on the day of our departure we have breakfast. We try to eat at a different restaurant each time. Bouchon, a French restaurant, has the best onion soup in the world.

My Prayer

Dear Lord, I know Your timing for this project is in Your hands. I continually pray for wisdom to trust in You. Thank You for the patience You have graciously bestowed on Mike and me, bringing us closer together as we go through this trial. Jesus, I trust in You! Amen.