A Catholic priest says he knows the Devil is real because he has come face to face with the demon himself.
Father Carlos Martins has performed many exorcisms during his two decades of ministry, cleansing people taunted by voices, blackouts and disappearing wounds.
“Exorcists are often asked whether the demonic behavior depicted in the famous 1973 film, The Exorcist, is accurate,” says Father Martins.
‘Except for one phenomenon – the three hundred and sixty degree rotation of the possessed person’s head – everything in the film depicts what a possessed person might do.’
Among the horrors of demon possession he has witnessed over the past twenty years include levitation, dramatic changes in facial features, and an aversion to God.
Father Martins described one he performed an exorcism on a middle-aged woman and when it was ‘about to begin, she locked arms with a man whose job it was to restrain her and threw him over her head like he was a rag doll. ‘
‘The man was over six feet tall and weighed over three hundred pounds. He did a complete somersault in the air and landed on the ground ten feet in front of her.
‘The woman then pointed her finger at the nearest light switch on the wall, about ten feet away. One of the screws holding the switch cover unscrewed and shot through the air into her open right hand.
‘She pushed him into her left forearm. Later, during the same session, she hit me in the face with such force that I needed two operations to repair the damage to my skull.’
Father Carlos Martins has performed many exorcisms during his two decades of ministry, cleansing people taunted by voices, blackouts and disappearing wounds.
Although Father Martins claims to have performed many exorcisms, scientists have suggested that such individuals are merely caused by mental disorders.
“Some patients thought to be demonic and treated with neuroleptics subsequently experienced remission, indicating strong support for a biochemical theory,” said Dr. Amin Muhammad Gadit, professor of psychiatry at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada.
‘There may also be a possible explanatory role related to the abnormal functioning of brainstem structures in the region of the fourth ventricle, caused by genetic or environmental factors or a combination thereof.’
Other research has suggested that possession syndrome was the result of psychological factors such as severe mental illness, trauma, mass hysteria, or cultural beliefs.
But these suggestions have not stopped Father Martins from his fight against evil.
In his new book, ‘The Exorcist Files: True Stories About the Reality of Evil and How to Defeat It,’ Father Martins reveals some of the chilling cases he has personally encountered that reveal the reality of the Devil and his minions.
‘People ask me what it’s like to fight the Devil. My opponent is hatred itself,” the book reads.
“When I walk into a room to perform an exorcism, the scorn and scorn of the old serpent, the one who refused to obey God, the one who caused our first parents to fall, the one who rejoices in every human misfortune and suffering, meets me head-on.’
“Exorcists are often asked whether the demonic behavior depicted in the famous 1973 film, The Exorcist, is accurate,” says Father Martins. He said the film was accurate except for the three hundred and sixty degree rotation of the possessed person’s head
The childless woman
One of Father Martin’s most moving encounters came with the young couple Cheryl and Mark. For privacy reasons, all names in his books have been changed.
The couple failed to conceive, leaving Cheryl depressed and filling the void with an obsession with baby clothes, diapers, baby toys and a crib.
But things got worse when she started collecting dead insects, including crickets, grasshoppers, hornets, moths and butterflies, and placed them next to the empty crib.
“Someone told me they were going to help me get pregnant,” Cheryl told Mar.
‘When they die, their spirit hangs around their body looking for a place to form new life. Death releases life energy. I want that energy to create a baby in my womb.”
The mangers then began to be filled with dead squirrels and birds, increasing Mark’s concerns for his wife, who had also paid. thousands of dollars to a psychic who told her to use the life energy of the dead animals to become pregnant.
Finally, Mark followed Cheryl to a pet store and came home to a scene of unimaginable horror.
Cheryl was standing over some dead rats, one of which was still twitching, and when Mark confronted her, she said in an extremely deep, alien voice, “Stay the fuck away from the rats.”
Mark sought help from his Methodist minister, who said, “You need to go to the Catholics for help on this. They are the only ones who can control these kinds of things.’
Father Martins arrived at their house to talk to Cheryl, who turned around and said, “Why did you bring this bastard priest here!”
“Who are you?” asked Father Martins.
“You know who the fuck I am,” Cheryl replied.
After eight exorcism sessions, she was cleansed.
Father Martins wrote: ‘In the end, it took the pain, humiliation and powerlessness of demonic possession to convince Cheryl to look to God – rather than motherhood – for its meaning.’
The possessed firefighter
Jeremy, a firefighter in his late 20s, went to Father Martins’ church to seek help for his bizarre behavior, days-long blackouts and unexplained injuries.
When he introduced himself, I found Jeremy to be polite, gentle and friendly – the epitome of a gentleman,” Father Martins said in his book.
‘No one could have suspected from his behavior that something was wrong with him.’
Due to the first impression, Father Martins had to perform the Catholic Church’s exorcism ritual to ensure that the young man was indeed possessed.
The Rite of Exorcism includes a variety of prayers, including the Lord’s Prayer, Hail Mary, and the Athanasian Creed, during which the priest uses holy water and a cross.
He tells the stories of his battles with demons in his new book, The Exorcist Files.
“The ritual requires moral certainty that an individual is possessed before an exorcist may perform it,” the book reads.
‘Moral certainty’ is understood as the conclusion that any intelligent and rational person would draw based on the evidence gathered.”
Father Martins and Jeremy spoke privately for a moment and discussed the firefighter’s experiences that occurred before the strangeness occurred and at which point the source of the possession was revealed.
Jeremy remembers when he was eight years old and his brother’s friend brought home a Ouija board and invited him to join in.
He remembered the planchette moving in response to various questions the group asked, and that night Jeremy went to bed and saw a dark figure in his room.
‘The figure was so black that even though the lights were off, everything else in the room looked as if it were in broad daylight. Besides the fact that it was intensely black, the only additional detail he remembered was that it had a human body but a cat’s head,” Father Martins said.
Jeremy said the figure promised to give him everything he wanted in exchange for his soul. And as a young boy he dreamed of becoming a firefighter.
Father Martins handed Jeremy a book with a small drop of holy water on the cover and when he took it, “he shot up from his chair and bent his upper body back.”
“Demon, who are you?” I asked.
“%&$# you, priest!” he replied. ‘He’s mine. He gave himself to me. You’ll never get it!’
“Demon, I want to talk to Jeremy,” I said.
Among the horrors of demon possession he has witnessed over the past twenty years include levitation, dramatic changes in facial features, and an aversion to God.
He responded with a slow, mocking laugh.
“In the name of Jesus, I command you to bring forth Jeremy,” I declared.
Father Minsters repeatedly told Jeremy to renounce the demon and “claim Jesus as your Lord.”
Jeremy forced the words out and banished the demon from his body, Father Martins claimed.
The spooky music box
One of Father Martins’ first encounters with the devil occurred when he was deployed to Afghanistan to teach the Gospel.
He encountered the Devil’s supernatural powers head-on when he helped a woman whose house had been destroyed by fire – so she had moved in with her uncle.
“It wasn’t long before she heard voices calling to her from neighboring rooms and scratching noises within the walls,” Father Martins said.
“Appliances turned on and off by themselves, and items safely placed on a table or countertop suddenly fell to the floor. The phenomenon frightened her.’
Even though the demonic possessions were quite new to him, he had a strong feeling that he was being watched by something that didn’t want him to be there.
‘Even the air felt like it was against me. I was warned: get out or else!’ Then the woman shouted, “That’s the music box,” Father Martins said.
She had mentioned earlier about a music box that sounded randomly from her uncle’s room even with the winding key removed.
Father Martins blessed each room with holy water, but discovered something shocking in the music box.
“I bent down and picked it up without any difficulty, and as soon as my hands touched it, it stopped singing,” he said.
‘I opened the lid to look inside. To our mutual shock, the music box contained nothing. There were no parts, no bell, no winding mechanism and no place for batteries.’
“After I sprinkled the box with holy water, she never suffered from devilish phenomena again and lived peacefully in her uncle’s house.”
Father Martins noted that he would have been content as a priest without meeting a single demon, saying: “While it is a joy to do this work, I have never enjoyed meeting the Devil and his minions.”