Temptations after life in the spirit seminar?

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Ok, i know this person who is a very humble Catholic all her life. She has been recently going to the Eucharistic Adoration on friday's and the other night at the Life of the Spirit seminar, after calling the Holy spirit down, she is having some very horrible visions going through her head even as she now prays. These visions are painfully troubling her as they are extremely sexual in nature reguarding Jesus and Mary. This is the first time this has ever happened to her and is in tears when talking about it. It started a week ago for the first time and has now multiplied excessively.

Has anyone here ever encountered or heard of this before? Is this Satan tempting her? She is going to see her Parish Priest tomorrow. She did tell me she asked the Holy Spirit was was wrong with her while in her confusing state and the anser she got was satan.

I ask people here to pray for her for she is extremely troubled by this.

Thank you.

-- DJ (newfiedufie@msn.com), February 04, 2005

Answers

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-- DJ (newfiedufie@msn.com), February 04, 2005.

I have experiences much like your friends, starting from a very young age.(Still going thru it) imagine i cant sleep withouit roasaries,prayers and adoration to Our Lord.

According to people who put me to sleep ,i murmured or groans in my sleep/ I even get visions like your friends whut i do is,i pray a lot and without fail, and most importantly, i pray in request that what i am going thru will be accepted by God as salvation for the souls.

well further to it , if I am in grace (like after life in the spirit seminar,a retreat or even during retreat) i get troubled by vision and temptation. IN a way i just wanna pass my experience and my solution to your friend.

Pray alot and ask our Blessed Mother for her intercesions

-- james (james_how1@yahoo.com), February 04, 2005.


DJ,

I would suggest this person judge the tree by its fruit... God does not cause evil and such suffering...

-- Daniel Hawkenberry (dlm@catholic.org), February 04, 2005.


"I would suggest this person judge the tree by its fruit... God does not cause evil and such suffering... "

What exactly are you saying?

-- Mike (n@n.n), February 04, 2005.


Many saints have had troubling visions or been tormented. If she is asking for God's help to get through them, perhaps it means she's on the right path, and someone is trying to roadblock her.

Frank

-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.cam), February 04, 2005.



I think what he's saying, and I'd agree, is that I'd be very worried who laid hands on you - St. Paul warns us to be careful about the laying on of hands.

These dreams are NOT from God, obviously. And since they were not part of her flesh sin previously and have only occurred as a result of the Life in the Spirit seminar, then it seems that's the place to start looking. When someone lays hands on you and prays, you can receive whatever they impart. You trust that the person is someone who is filled with the Holy Spirit and only good can come from this. BUT, it is not unheard of for an evil person to masquerade as a Christian and get into a position in which they can impart evil spirits, or even for a person who was previously a strong Spirit- Filled believer but who has fallen into sexual sin. If it's the latter, that person is probably unaware of imparting their sin into others. It sounds like that's what happened. No one should be tormented in this way. It's demonic and can be dealt with.

First, your friend needs to go to a trusted priest and tell him what happened. It could be that there were multiple people laying hands on her and any one could be the source. She may be able to go to the priest who's leading the seminar, but that could be the source, so it's tricky.

To get free from the dreams, she needs to have the power of the demonic source of them broken. Personally, I would suggest that she go to confession so she can be free from sin - she needs to make sure the devil has no right to be influencing her like that, so she needs to have a clean conscience before God. Then tell her to start fasting and praying. She'll need to verbally renounce these dreams and to command them to stop "in the Name of Jesus". I'd suggest using the same deliverance/exorcism prayer used for water baptism - it's powerful. She needs to understand that she has the authority in Christ Jesus to stop these dreams. If she continues to struggle, then I'd suggest finding a priest who knows what he's doing in this realm and have him pray for her directly. Getting free from this can occur very quickly if she can find the right person. I'm not sure how to go about that in the Catholic Church, so I'll leave it there and hopefully, others can provide some suggestions.

Paul M. - perhaps you could use your connections within the Charismatic Catholic community to check this out and suggest someone for her to see. I believe this is a very serious issue for her.

David

-- non-Catholic Christian (no@spam.com), February 04, 2005.


For some reason I see this as one of those cases about which none of us ought to give ANY advice. None of us knows that person, her state of mind, what she actually ''sees'', or thinks she sees.

Just everybody pray for the lady. There's tons more power in prayer than in advice. Remedies from strangers could be more dangerous to a soul's spiritual welfare than any disturbing vision.

If this lady's really ''humble'' and a faithful Catholic, she'll go to confession at least. There are no formulas (formulae ?) to help a person overly given to hysteria and erotomania. If it were someone close to me, I'd recommend a double whiskey at bedtime. (Just remember your prayers.)

-- eugene c. chavez (loschavez@pacbell.net), February 04, 2005.


I realize my assessment and suggestion may seem to be different than one might expect, but that's because I've seen this kind of thing before. If this lady was attending a Life in the Spirit seminar, then she's serious about drawing closer to God and asking God to use her. I admire that very much. I've been involved with numerous Life in the Spirit seminars and think they are great. And I know that experience should NEVER produce the results she got - so something went terribly wrong and it has all the earmarks of an evil spirit.

David

-- non-Catholic Christian (no@spam.com), February 04, 2005.


I just have to clear a couple of things up after talking to her again. This is the 3rd week of the Seminar. It's a legitamate Catholic Organization with 5 Priest for speakers. She did last year have a Catholic Alpha group call down the Holy Spirit on her, but thses thoughts of hers didn't happen till last week after that 3rd session. She cearified to me that they are not visions but thoughts. She doesnt will these thoughts and is quite digusted when they happen. She goes to confession every few months and at the Adoration once a month on Friday's.

If she is asking for God's help to get through them, perhaps it means she's on the right path, and someone is trying to roadblock her.

Frank, this is exactly what she told me. She feels someone doesn't want her to pray anymore.

James, she asked that you pray for her and she for you since you seem to be in the same boat.

She is going to see the Priest tonight and i'll get back to you guys what he say to her.

-- DJ (newfiedufie@msn.com), February 04, 2005.


I believe that the Church sacramentals are very useful for shunning evil. Drink (clean and drinkable) holy water everyday. Apply holy water on your body everyday. Use and ingest holy oil with food. Apply holy oil on your body. Wear a blessed St. Benedict medal/crucifix. Or wear a blessed Brown scapular. Or wear a blessed Four-Way Cross. Sprinkle holy salt around the house. Pray the St. Michael's prayer and the Rosary everyday. Make the sign of the cross often. St. Teresa of Avila vouches for holy water and the sign of the cross.

Go to confession every week. Of course, daily ingestion of the Sacred Host has infinite benefits.

-- josh (josh3p@yahoo.com), February 04, 2005.



What exactly are you saying?

Mike,

What I am saying is that what is happening is not due to the Holy Spirit and should not be accepted as such --something is amiss and skeptical caution prior to proceeding any further in the 'seminar' in addition to sound Catholic spiritual advice is required

-- Daniel Hawkenberry (dlm@catholic.org), February 04, 2005.


"None of us knows that person, her state of mind, what she actually ''sees'', or thinks she sees."-- eugene c. chavez

"so something went terribly wrong and it has all the earmarks of an evil spirit." -David -- non-Catholic Christian

DJ: What Eugene and David have stated IS 100% accurate--These are the very specific reasons that the Church as a Whole does not promote these for the mainstream--

And Unless that person is very strong spiritually, mentally and physically they run a high risk of such things occuring, and even more so I suspect she did not even know these 5 Priest or Their spirits to start with. I have seen this occur before and keep her Out of it from now on. Keep her in the Church and encourage her to become active in the Church ministries. Food Pantry, homeless shelter or whatever they can set her up for.

God WILL use her the way that is best suited for her and clearly this is not for her. The Holy Spirit WILL be with her.

DJ you are a good friend if she confides this in you. Immediately suggestion, pray with her to God and ask that he send immediately the Warrior Angels of Michael to remove ALL darkness and dark spirits that are present in her life and home. And take the time to Bless each room for the removal of all darkness.

If she decides to proceed again with this it is extremely important that she truely Knows all of the people she is with and what spirits they bring in which can and WILL affect her.

-- Michael G. (NoEmail@Nowhere.no), February 04, 2005.


First, i want to thank you all for your prayers and concern.

Last year as the Alpha group layed hands on her and called down the Holy Spirit, she said her heart was beating so fast it felt as if were going to burst. The following day she along with her friend, whom she recently helped to convert and was also part of the Alpha group, felt a little depressed and wondered how this could be after the laying on of hands. She inquired about this and was told that it was satan, trying to trick her into believing nothing happened. But that was last year and everything has been fine since untill a few days ago.

As i have said previously, it is only the 3rd session she it at so they have yet to call the Holy Spirit down. This is supposed to happen on the last day. She told me they are supposed to go to Confession just prior before this takes place on that day.

At the moment, she is now at the Eucharistic Adoration and will ask her priest about this issue of hers.

-- DJ (newfiedufie@msn.com), February 04, 2005.


DJ,

Wow, that's a completely different scenario. Then obviously her impure thoughts had nothing to do with the laying on of hands. I thought it all started immediately after she was first prayer for. She'll likely be totally free from them after the 5th session in which the pray for her again. The power of sin is often broken after that experience for a time - such is the impact of the filling of the Spirit. Of course, it only lasts for a few weeks on it's own and needs to be renewed/maintained by the faithful work of each person to continue in prayer/worship and Mass.

David

-- non-Catholic Christian (no@spam.com), February 05, 2005.


The last thing Satan wants is for someone to take specific steps that will draw him/her closer to God. As a result, once we make a decision to draw closer to God through something like a Life in the Spirit Seminar, we can expect that Satan will do all he can to distract us from that goal and to cause doubt about whether we should continue. Once we do continue in spite of his efforts, the distractions typically cease, both because Satan has failed in his effort, and because of the abundance of grace we receive by drawing closer to God.

-- Paul M. (PaulCyp@cox.net), February 05, 2005.


this might be out-dated last night after a long prayer nite of rosaries( state of grace) bad dreams were clouding me,i slept like 3am in the morning. but i know before that i had a long rosaries (ingroup and by myself) it helps. my dream ,2 men leading me to a secluded place, and i told them " well have to say the rosary to make sure you are not the demon,

well' they shush me, and cover my mouth and try to split my arm(my arm was in a praying position) they try to stop me. and i woke up i felt their presence in my room and my arm hurt,took me 2 hours to slepep (while in rosaries)

-- james (james-how@hotmail.com), February 16, 2005.


Hey everyone, my friend said all the thoughts are completely gone since she went to the Eucharist Adoration last week and wants to express her gratitude for everyone's advice and prayers.

Paul, i recently mentioned what you said and she agreed 100 percent with you.

Anyways, thanks again.

-- DJ (newfiedufie@msn.com), February 17, 2005.


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