THE DEVIL DOES NOT EXIST

The story which you are about to read is a full account of my personal experience before I entered the seminary. If you have any heart disease and anxiety attack, I suggest you skip this story to shield you from further exacerbation of your condition. I decided to disclose this story irregardless of hesitation, so that people may know that there are entities that surround us invisible to our naked eyes. In celebration of St. Michael and other archangel?s feasts tomorrow, September 29, 2007, we are again reminded of the existence of the world beyond ours and that what we do here on earth will have its full realization in the after life.

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?If only people can see the evil spirits roaming around the earth, it would blacken the whole sky because of their great number?

- St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
Capuchin Mystic Priest
Upon seeing the evil spirits

They say that the Devil always try to spoil the plan of God but to no avail. The devil and his minions do harm on the soul in order to divert the destined plan prepared for it by God. In my case, I experienced it big time but as cliché always reiterates, ?The Devil Never Wins?.

It was the month of October when I first saw the seminary. The seminary way of life somehow attracted me into entering the formation but it was not that easy. It was not a smooth transition because aside from family obstacles, there were also spiritual harassment and barrage coming from the dark side. It was so subtle that I never really paid attention to it until gradually the harassment became so intense that I was convinced that the devil was actually trying to dissuade me from my plans of heeding the call of the Lord to enter the seminary.

First Harassment
January of 1997

Before that faithful day of November, there were some nightly episodes of harassment coming from the evil one. I was an active member of a student charismatic group called the Young Pilgrims of Christ and we always try to save lost souls from further straying into perdition by recruiting them in the seminar facilitated by priests and active members. The task is exhausting and demanding because it entails your entire being, serving total strangers just so they will come to know God through his grace.

Our routine is to clean the retreat center a day before the actual seminar and we would stay there for the night just so we could have plenty of time in arranging tables, chairs, bed linens etc prior to the arrival of candidates.

After eating our diner and attending to some personal needs, my usual habit there was to get the guitar, do some meditation alone and face the karaoke situated in the middle of the open terrace/auditorium facing and overlooking a ravine beneath and the river on the far side, and sing my heart out to God. I always sing whenever I pray because I always think that God enjoys the song of a sinner in supplication more than any other music in the world.

The lights were off in the hall (terrace) with only the lights from the receiving area illuminating the karaoke and me in the middle of it. I was getting deeper in my prayer and in my meditation until I felt someone was walking towards me at my back. I did not pay attention to it because I thought it was just one of the brothers or sisters of the student org passing by the hall going to the dirty kitchen. Until on my deepest state of prayer, I felt my body hair erected. I had Goosebumps all over with no apparent reason at all.

My eyes were still closed and my head was bent, embracing my guitar, and the karaoke playing the song of Carey Laudrey as I meditate and converse with God. It was as if that my body hairs were not enough, my hair on my nape up to my head also began to erect and I felt this terrible shrinking of my head as if something is pressing it towards the middle of my brain. I never turned around because I was afraid of what I might see so I continued my prayer asking God for assistance. But the force and presence of an evil one was so strong that it actually distracted me from prayer. Yet I continued my endeavor calling upon St. Michael the Archangel (who is my Guardian angel because I was born on a Sunday) for help.

But at that time, no amount of prayer calmed my already trembling knees and terrified soul. I was still on my prayer position until I saw the evil one (while my eyes were still shut) that it was about to embrace me from the back. It was not a physical sight because as I said before, I did not turn around and raised my head because of fear that I might see something. But my ESP (that is very much evident on INFJ personalities which I have) enabled me to see what was happening on my back in a very spiritual perspective. I do not know any simple explanation for it but let us just say that while my eyes were wide shut, and my head was bent in prayer, I saw what the evil spirit is doing at my back through a vision that just popped out from my head. The presence was so strong that I smell burning sulfur in the air.

At that instant I stood up, did not turn my head around, walk slowly away from the place where I was sitting, gradually making steps as if nothing happened until as I was near the dirty kitchen, I ran hurriedly towards my friends who were fixing the rooms and told them what just had happened. After that, I did not anymore tell anyone about my first encounter with him. I thought it was just an isolated case of an evil spirit disturbing someone in prayer. I just dismissed everything as a normal occurrence in people who are very much attuned with God.

Second Harassment
February of 1997

At that time that I was already confused with my Physical Therapy course and was actually looking for answers on what to do next with my life, I began to develop a deep sense of communion with God. I often visit the Blessed Sacrament. Pray the rosary and always give my full time service to people who are in need, may it be physical, emotional or spiritual.

Until after my so-called first harassment, the enemy came back but this time making his presence felt a little bit more intense. Since the first harassment, I never felt him again, even on the same place that he made his presence felt. Until one night, at my college dorm, as I was sleeping on my double deck, a certain movement awakened me on my bedside. I opened my eyes and saw no one except my three roommates who were all fast asleep.

The next evening (actually it always happen during dawn) I was awakened again, but this time, as someone who sat on the side of my bed while I was sleeping. I opened my eyes again and saw no one.

The third night it was he was very forceful. I was fast asleep until I woke up again because I felt someone grab me in my arms. I jumped out of my double deck bed while my roommates were awakened by my violent reaction. I swear to my self that someone really touched my arms.

For weeks, I was insomniac because there is something bothering me that I can?t explain. My sleep was too shallow. If I was not awakened by touches, I was awakened by voices? faint and deep voices that was calling my name at the middle at the night. But every time I open my eyes, the voices disappear.

During these harassments, I always call the name of St. Michael the Archangel because my confidence in him surpasses my confidence on my self. Every time I pray to St. Michael, the harassment always stops.

Until one weekend morning, before the actual LSS seminar commenced in the afternoon, my brothers from the student organization and I had our morning prayer on the same terrace where the enemy harassed me for the first time. During the prayer to the Holy Spirit (as usual, my eyes were closed again), I saw a vision. It was as if I was watching a movie because there were scenes flashing before my very eyes. Though they were very much shut. I felt that I was there in the vision: that I was not on my usual place. I can here the voices on my vision but it was not on physical terms because I can still here the prayers and chants of my brothers beside me. I cannot explain it but the nearest description to it was the IMAX Cinema: You see everything happening in the vision as if you were there, flesh and blood. And feeling all the hardships and emotions of the people I see in the vision, and yet I am still aware of my earthly existence and my spatial awareness was still intact. After the vision, I felt very tired and exhausted as if I traveled to a very far place, were in fact I was just sitting on floor with my brothers. The vision ended seconds before the final prayers were said by my brothers.

I confided it to a certain brother and after that; I never mentioned it to anyone.

Imitation
October of 1997

I was in Mega Mall gallivanting and killing time on that Sunday morning. I went up to the 5th level of Mega mall and went to Mary?s Park of the mall to pray. I sat on a bench reading Don Bosco?s vision of hell, which I bought from St. Paul. Until someone bumped me on the bench and I realized that, it was time for me to go home because the next day is another hectic academic day for me.

When I arrived at my college dorm (Green Heights) the next day, my dorm mates were surprised to see me. They thought I already came home the day before I arrived. In my own words according to my own Autobiography at that time, I quote from its pages:

?When I came back to my dorm, my dorm mates were surprised to see me. They asked me ?O san ka galling? Akala namin kahapon ka pa dumating?? (Where were you? We thought you arrived yesterday.). I laughed at that instant and said ?E paano mangyayari yon eh nasa megamall ako kahapon?? (How is that possible, I was in Mega Mall yesterday?). ?E bakit sabi ni Alvin nakita ka raw nya kahapon? (Alvin said he saw you yesterday) he added. I laughed again trying to make fun at their claim thinking that it was just another ?just-kidding-practical-jokes? that is circulating in the dorm. ?Guni-guni nyo lang yon? (its just your imagination). So, I went up to my room on the third floor and found Alvin in his usual sleeping position, then he asked me the same question, and I told him the same answer. But I was shocked when he said: ?I was lying here half asleep when the door slammed at my bed. It awakened me and saw you in blue Polo Shirt entering the door Then you bent over on your bed beside my head and placed your bag at my side. Then you went out of the room again. During the evening, we were looking for you and were telling everyone that you already arrived but we were clueless why you didn?t sleep here for the night?. I was stupefied with what I heard. How did that happen? Am I capable of Bilocating?? (Untitled autobiography 1998 pp. 78-79)

Their testimony was very unconvincing for me because in Church history, only known saints including Padre Pio was capable of doing such mystical phenomena. But only one thing was certain: The polo shirt that Alvin saw me wearing was also the same shirt I was wearing at the mega mall at Mary?s park at that exact time.

What is Bilocation?

?Bilocation, sometimes multilocation is a term used to describe the ability/instances in which an individual or object is said to be, or appear to be, located in two distinct places at the same instant in time. Bilocation is said to be a physical, rather than spiritual, phenomenon, and a person experiencing it is supposedly able to interact with their surroundings as normal, including being able to experience sensations and to manipulate physical objects exactly as if they had arrived through natural means. This makes it distinct from astral projection. In most instances, bilocation is said to be involuntary and not to have been directed by the individual concerned in terms of time or space.
The generally accepted scientific theories of physics provide no mechanism by which bilocation of macroscopic objects could occur.

Several Christian saints and monks are said to have exhibited bilocation. In one instance, in 1774, St. Alphonsus Liguori is said to have gone into a trance while preparing for Mass. When he came out of the trance he reported that he had visited the bedside of the dying Pope Clement XIV. His presence is then said to have been confirmed by those attending the Pope despite his being 4 days travel away, and not appearing to have left his original location. Other Christian figures said to have experienced it include St. Anthony of Padua, St. Gerard Majella, St. Pio of Pietrelcina, St. Severus of Ravenna, St. Ambrose of Milan and St. Martin de Porres, as well as Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria, Egypt. The English occultist Aleister Crowley was reported by acquaintances to have the ability, even though he himself was not conscious of its happening at the time. There are also sub-bilocationists, which are people who practice the art of bilocationism.? (Catholic Encyclopedia and Wikipedia)

Bilocation can be a work of God and a work of the devil. The difference between the two is that the People who bilocate under the work of God is conscious of their travel while those bilocations initiated by the devil render the person unaware of his bilocation. In my case, I did not bilocate for I am neither a saint nor an instrument of the devil. But one thing is for sure, The devil disguised himself as me, to make me think that I was privileged and was favored by God, thus I can sin against the Holy Spirit: Pride, Assuming and over-presumptuous. The two harassment did not deterred me thus the Devil went for a more subtle attack which I could have fallen that instant if it were not for the wisdom of the Holy Spirit.

The devil can mimic anyone he wants. He can even pretend as dead relatives, saints, angels of light and the Virgin Mary (just like what happened in Medjugorje), in order to lead people astray and render them proud of being favored by God, thus confusing them and later, trapping them in the very net that they themselves made.

A week after that incident, I visited a friend who entered the Capuchin seminary and that was the time that God finally made his voice heard. It was the turning point of my life and the very first time that I felt that I was being called into his service (it?s another story).

Third and Final Harassment
November of 1997

In my autobiography written for the seminary files in 1998, I quote from its pages my own account of the final blow of the Devil against me.

?When he (the devil) did not succeed in his plan against me, he decided to change his strategy. This time, with a very personal touch that not even amnesia can erase from my memory. It was November of 1997, a week after the solemnity of Christ The King, I was attacked by an infernal visitor. I was dreaming of singing a song. In my dream, I was in a very dark place where I was singing the song ?Anima Christi? when suddenly I felt the usual fear (the same feeling I felt in the first harassment). Then I woke up and saw a horrible apparition: I saw the Devil sitting on my chest with his feet resting on the right side of my body. I cannot move, nor could I breathe because he was so heavy. I was struggling for air and freeing my self from his clutches but to no avail. He was black as the night. Smoke was coming out from him and he was covered with black fur and soothe all over his body. He has sharp nails, which he tried to touch and pinch me with. His appearance was like a wolf. A silhouette of black but was very visible in the dark. Least to say, he is darker than the dark itself. His ears were big and broad, pointed like a jackal?s ear. His feet were hoofed like that of a goat. He was so heavy. He was trying to kill me by suffocating me while his weight crushed my chest. My heart was beating so fast as if I was running from something. But as I mentioned the name ?Jesus, Jesus? on my head (because no words was coming out from my mouth even though I knew I was already shouting aloud and gasping for air at the same time), he vanished at the wink of an eye and I was freed from his clutches. He flees and I was able to free myself and move. I was not sleeping, I?m very sure of that because at the time of the attack my eyes were open and I could see the altar at the wall at the foot of my bed at the back of the Devil, and I could also hear the sound of the electric fan in my room, twirling. After the diabolical assault, I turned on the light and felt so tired and exhausted as if I just finished wrestling with another human being. The Lord protected me even in the physical assault of the Devil. I was not harmed, but the apparition of him was a prelude to what I think is a series of assault. I?m sure of that. After the attack, I prayed and called on St. Michael the archangel for protection. It was exactly 4 AM when the assault ended. I am very sure that it was not an imagination because I smell a foul burning odor after the attack. From then on, until the writing (of this autobiography) the enemy never showed himself again. The Lord gave me a foretaste of what it is like to be with Satan, and I am convinced that it was not pleasant. I?m sure he will come back again, maybe not tonight, nor tomorrow, but I?m very sure, sooner or later, he will, when he sees my weakest point?? (Untitled autobiography 1998 pp.80-81)

That very same day I went to a certain authority who knows so much about these things. I confided to him the vision I saw during one of my morning prayers with my brothers in the student org and the diabolical apparition I had during that morning. He only said one thing: ?you are not imagining things. This happens to people who strive hard to get close with God?.

At that time, I was not yet decided in entering the seminary. I have no plans really. But after three months, everything came into place. On February 11, 1998, (Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes and is the feast day of the Capuchin Seminary), I finally decided to enter the formation which met a lot of resistance and protest from my family, friends and yes even my love ones. The devil never showed himself again in a horrible apparition, but the last months before my formal entry in the seminary last April of 1998, the war was violent between him and me. He was literally hindering everything: from missing acceptance letters, family conflicts and temptations from side to side. Yet at the end, with the help of my four great saints (Padre Pio, Therese of Liseux, Mama Mary and St. Michael of the Archangel), I ended up in those four walls just six months after I first entered its gate.

It is said that the Devil works every 3 am in the morning because that is their mockery of the holy hour of Our Lord?s death. The vision I had is personal and I it doesn?t mean any sanctity on my part hence it will become another temptation for me. I did not disclose the content of my vision because it is not a public revelation but a private one. It tells about the things that will transpire and if I will choose the right road.

The devil will try to do anything just to turn you away from God. Some people underestimate his power and deny his existence in our lives, dismissing him as someone fictional, created by the religious fanatics, to justify evil in the world. But the more we deny his existence, the more he has a grasp on us.

For four years I never told this to anybody. I only confided this to four people since the attack. But seeing the movie of Emily Rose last 2005, I realized that I should share my own story of how the Devil exist in our very lives. I known that upon revealing the devil?s existence he will get back at me in some form or another because he hates it when he is exposed out in the open. He wants to dwell underneath, unseen and unnoticed. Yet I do not fear because My God will protect me just like he protected me 10 years ago. And St. Michael will always be there to vanquish him.

I am not a saint. I am not even a candidate for such. I am no holy man. Nevertheless, when a sinner tries to get close to God and love him in return for his mercy and peace, the Devil and his minions gets jealous. They do not want any single soul to go to heaven? Do you know why?

TO BE CONTINUED?

The Devils Does Not Exist In Our Imagination? He Exists In Reality?

?Stay sober and alert. Your opponent the devil is prowling like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, solid in your faith? ? 1 Peter 5:8-9

TIDBITS

The Prayer to the Archangel Michael was composed by Pope Leo XIII (d. 1903) after he had a vision of the battle between the “Woman clothed with the sun” and the great dragon who tried to devour her child at birth, in the Book of Revelation, chapter 12. In 1886, the pope decreed that this prayer be said at the end of “low” Mass (not “high”, or sung Masses) throughout the universal Church, along with the Salve Regina (Hail, Holy Queen); and the practice of the congregation praying these prayers at the end of Mass continued until the year 1970.

In 1994, during the International Year of the Family, Pope John Paul II asked all Catholics to pray this prayer daily. He warned that the fate of humanity was in great peril (in particular because of the U.N. Population Conference to be held in Cairo that year). Though he did not order that the prayer be said after Mass, he urged Catholics to pray together to overcome the forces of darkness and evil in the world.

In his Angelus message given in St. Peter’s Square, Sunday, April 24 1994, shortly before the United Nations Conference in Cairo, the pope spoke of “the Woman clothed with the sun”, who appeared in Saint John’s apocalyptic vision, with the dragon about to devour her newborn child (Rev 12:1-4). The Holy Father said that in our time “all the accumulated threats to life” are placed before woman, and we must “address the Woman clothed with the sun” to overcome these snares. In this message he encouraged the revival of the prayer to Saint Michael:

“May prayer strengthen us for the spiritual battle of which we are told in the Letter to the Ephesians: ‘Draw strength from the Lord and from His mighty power’ (Ephesians 6:10). It is this same battle to which The Book of Revelation [Apocalypse] refers, recalling before our eyes the image of Saint Michael the Archangel (cf. Revelation 12:7). Pope Leo XIII certainly had a very vivid vision of this scene when, at the end of the last century, he introduced a special prayer to Saint Michael throughout the Church. Even if this prayer is no longer recited at the end of every Mass, I ask everyone to remember it and to recite it to obtain help in the battle against forces of darkness and against the spirit of this world.” (St. Michael and all the Angels).

Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel and to all the Angels

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in the battle
Be our protection against the malice and snare of the Devil.
We beseech God to subdue him
And you Oh Prince of the heavenly host,
By the Divine power
Cast into hell Satan, and all other eviul spirits
Who roam to the world
Seeking for the ruin of souls amen

Here is another beautiful prayer against the workings of the Devil. It is a love song to the Body and Blood of Christ.

Anima Christi

Soul of Christ sanctify me
Body of Christ save of me
Water from the side of Christ wash me
Passion of Christ, give me strength
Hear me Jesus
Hide in thy wounds that Imay never leave thy side
From all the evils that surround me defend me
And when the call of death arrives
Hedd me to come to thee
That I may praise you with thy saints
forever