By Theodore Shoebat
A man in Brazil tried to break into a Catholic church to destroy the statues of Jesus and Mary. Fortunately, a group of Evangelicals rushed him and stopped him from breaking in and damaging the Catholic icons. The attacker is said to be mentally ill, but it is obvious that this is no physical condition, but a spiritual one; it is conspicuous that he is demonically possessed. The attacker arrived at the church by bike in the evening time. Why in the evening time? Obviously because he did not want to get caught, to be seen, since the church was closed by then. Under the reticent mask of the night, he went forward with his sinister plan.
The doors were locked so he began to try to break them open by punching and kicking them. These were not the actions of a someone who did not know any better, but those of a malicious and malice person. A few meters away there was an Evangelical church conducting a service. The people from this church saw that their Catholic neighbor parish was being attacked, so they came to its aid. They apprehended the man and prevented him from fulfilling his evil mission. The Evangelicals, rather than being insouciant and indifferent, exemplified a great probity in stopping this man from committing his dark and iconoclastic desire. “We are here to work for the community, independent of being evangelical or not. We are here to respect them and to live,” said Jonas Baptist, the pastor at the Evangelical church.
The secretary of the Catholic church, Joseildo Lopes, expressed his appreciation for the actions of the Evangelicals. “Thank God there was this solidarity of our evangelical brothers, who were in their worship, they saw what was happening and came running to help. Otherwise, he would have entered and destroyed,” he said. The man who tried to attack the church and destroy the icons was most definitely possessed by demons. In fact, this was not the first time he had gone to a church to shatter the icons of Christ and Mary. “Many churches have been visited by him. It is revolting, ” said Jussara Sousa, a local teacher.
The event reminds me of some stories that I read from the monk Maximos of Mt. Athos in Greece. One day, Maximos was asked by the professor, Kyriacos C. Markides, “Is it possible for a human being to hate God with the intensity of Satan?” ” “Oh yes! Definitely,” said Fr. Maximos. “I have known such persons myself. I have known people, even young people, who love Satan, believe it or not. They feel erotically attracted to Satan and even pray to him.”
Fr. Maximos went on to recount a story in which a young man, involved in satanism, approached him with his devilish questions, asking him: “Who has more power, God or Lucifer? Who is the ruler of this world? Definitely not God.” Fr. Maximos began to read from St. John Chrysostom’s book of prayers and the young man fell to the floor, convulsing with foam running out of his mouth. A doctor who was watching this disturbing event said, “Keep reading, father, keep reading.” As Fr. Maximos was recounting this story, Kyriacos the professor interjected and suggested that maybe the young man was suffering from epilepsy, but Fr. Maximos firmly stated that it was demonic possession. “After the experience,” said Fr. Maximos, “I persuaded this fellow to come to confession and then I made him do penances so the evil sprit would leave him. I asked him to chant every night a troparion devoted to Archangel Michael that says, ‘Opou episkase e charis sou archangele ekeithen tou diavolou diokete dynamis…’ [Wherever your grace is spread, Oh Archangel, it drives out the power of Satan….] Archangel Michael is superior and has power over Satan.”
The young man was eventually liberated from demonic possession, but when he was possessed his hatred towards God and the Church were so intense that he had very strong urges to mutilate and murder a priest. During the process of his liberation, he once told Fr. Maximos, “You know I have such a strong urge to grab a priest, cut his tongue, and take his eyes out.” “It was his obsession to slaughter a priest,” Fr. Maximos recalled while laughing.
This man in Brazil who wanted to destroy the icons was most definitely involved in the occult. The black arts are heavily observed in Brazil were Palo Myombe and Macumba are popularly subscribed to. Fr. Maximos had to deal with a Greek man who got deeply involved in the occult during a stay in Brazil. While he was in the country, the marine merchant from Greece read prayers from an occult book, asking for success in his business. The frequent paeons and incantations led to his spiritual imprisonment under the hands of the demons. When he returned to Greece he took Communion and immediately collapsed to the floor in violent paroxysm, foaming at the mouth. (See Markides, The Mountain of Silence, ch. 8, pp. 105-106)
So it does surprise me that there are people like this in Brazil, or in any other country, for the works of Satan are everywhere. God bless these Evangelicals for doing the right thing and stopping this abysmal slave of the devil.