Photo by Elena Mirus
Alexander Spieldenner
Staff Writer
The Rev. Vincent Lampert, an author and an exorcist for the Archdiocese of Indiana, presented at the Finnegan Fieldhouse 8 p.m. Monday to share his experiences of freeing people from the devil.
Lampert spoke for about an hour, talking about what he had seen as the primary causes for demonic interference in one’s life and why people needed to pursue Christ.
“We live in an age,” he said, “where many people have lost touch with their Christian heritage.”
Lampert went on to say that it was this loss of relationship with God that was allowing an increased satanic presence in modern society. It is not that the devil is doing more than ever before; rather, it is that people are opening themselves up to his influence.
Lampert also outlined the four kinds of demonic influence one can experience: infestation, which is when a location or item has evil present in it; vexation, which is when one suffers physical attacks; obsession, which is when evil is able to affect a person’s thoughts and views; and possession, which is when an evil spirit takes control of one’s body and uses it as his own.
Lampert gave the four main signs a priest looks for to determine if a person is possessed.
He then talked about the main ways that people give the devil a foothold in their lives: ties to the occult, illicit entertainment, a curse, being dedicated to a demon, abuse that creates emotional wounds and leads to seeking help in bad places, habitual sin, inviting a demon into one’s life and broken relationships.
Lampert stressed that evil is not something to fear.
“The power of evil,” he said, “will increase or decrease depending on the amount of resistance it finds in us.”
Natalie Conner, a freshman theology major, particularly appreciated hearing what to avoid.
“I think it was really good the way he discussed just how things that are normalized in our culture can be doorways for the demonic to come into people’s lives,” she said. “We have to be careful about what we get involved in in the culture.”
Luke Brandl, a junior philosophy and theology major, said, “In this world, you need (a) relationship with God above anything else. Everyone thinks ‘start to think about Satan more,’ but that’s obviously the key right there: loving God.”