Deliver Us from Evil by Ralph Sarchie Page B

means having gone to confession. While our church only suggests monthly confession, I didn’t feel that was enough and made a rule that investigators also go to weekly confession, if possible, before going up against the demonic. People of other faiths were to perform whatever rituals their religion prescribes to be in the best possible relationship with God. I also instructed people to perform a “black fast” before cases, where they spent three days eating very little and praying a lot.
    â€œBasically, your job is to watch each other’s back and do exactly what Joe and I tell you,” I instructed the three student investigators who had volunteered to help with this case. Phil and Chris were father and son—and had joined the group along with Phil’s wife, Rose—but the two men didn’t look at all alike. The dad, the computer professional in our group, was heavyset with dark hair, while his teenaged son was very thin and fair, like his mother. Both had similar temperaments, however: They were enthusiastic, outgoing guys who made friends very quickly. I was impressed with how close they were: There was none of the tension you’d expect between a father and his adolescent son. Chris was a very good kid any man would be proud of.
    Phil and Chris had been on cases before, but it was the first time for Tommy, a cop I worked with in East New York. We shared a passion for the martial arts and became friendly while training together. He was a wiry little guy who could move with astonishing speed. Although I’d never been on patrol with him, since we worked on different shifts, I’d heard he was very quick-witted and knew how to handle himself on the street. Since any cop who works in the ghetto has to be aggressive, I cautioned him that he wasn’t to mix it up with anybody. “We may be met with force on this case,” I told him. “If that happens, take the person down if you have to, but don’t hurt him.”
    The final member of our group, who arrived a few minutes later, was Brother Andrew, an extremely gifted psychic who belongs to the St. Paul Society, a religious order in Staten Island. A tall, thin man with flowing dirty blond hair and a scraggly mustache that makes him look like an Old Testament prophet, he sensed as soon as we walked into the house that there was a malevolent presence—and it was scared of us! That told me we were dealing with a low-level demon, since it was frightened before we even began our exorcism of the house.
    There is a hierarchy in Hell, just as in Heaven, where there are nine orders of celestial spirits: seraphim are the most exalted, followed by cherubim, thrones, dominations, virtues, powers, principalities, archangels, and finally angels. From the Bible, we know that Lucifer was once supreme among the seraphim, but he committed the deadly sin of pride, by imagining himself the equal of the Almighty. In his arrogance and envy, he refused to give glory and thanks to God, and became God’s adversary.
    Like humans, the angels were given free will, so they could choose to love God. He created humans with a soul and directed the angels to care for us. Then God allowed His only son to become a man. Although the virtuous angels adored Jesus Christ, Lucifer said he would not worship a mere human. Many angels joined his rebellion, then a challenge rose from one of the lowest orders, as the Archangel Michael called each angel who “was like unto God” to join the metaphysical battle. As punishment, Lucifer and one-third of the angels were cast out of Heaven, forever banished from seeing the beatific face of God.
    These fallen angels, now the demons that inhabit Hell, lost their supernatural graces but not their inhuman powers. It’s been said that their leader, Lucifer, is represented by the scorpion and that Satan, the ruler of Hell, is represented by the snake. Father Martin went so far as to say that Lucifer and