Guest host Connie Willis (email) welcomed Bishop James Long, who was consecrated to the Episcopacy within the old Catholic church, for a discussion on the true nature of demonic possession and exorcisms. "One has to be called to do this," he said of being an exorcist, "it's not something you just choose to do on a Saturday night because you are bored." To that end, Long revealed that by the age of five he wanted to become a priest and, by nine years old, he had an overwhelming desire to learn "what was the opposite of God," which led to his work as a demonologist later in life. Having performed twenty-seven exorcisms throughout his career, Long lamented that many people claim to be demonologists due to having read books on the subject. However, he declared, to be a true practitioner of demonology one must have firsthand experience with actual cases.
According to Long, demonic activity can be either ordinary, which is simply temptation to sin, or extraordinary, which takes on a more supernatural quality. Within the realm of extraordinary activity, he said, are four different stages of escalating contact. Demonic infestation sees evil take root within the home and make itself known via chilling poltergeist activity and putrid smells. Demonic oppression is when the spirits physically attack people. Conversely, demonic obsession attacks the mental capacity of the victim and causes them to think they are going crazy. And, finally, demonic possession is where an entity either enters the body and leaves at will or takes complete control. The final form, Long said, has a high probability for death because the possessing spirit will not allow its victim to eat or drink.
Long detailed a number of steps which take place during the ritual. The first step, which he called "the presence," is merely entering the room and feeling evil in the atmosphere. Following that is "the pretense," where the demon will act as if there is no possession taking place and the exorcist is a villain. Then the "breakthrough" sees the entity admit its presence and the possessed person screams in a horrifying voice. Next comes the "clash," where the priest provokes the demon using sacramentals from the church to weaken its resolve. Should the demon continue to fight, exorcists turn to a step called "demanding of the name," which extracts the spirit's identity and gives greater control to the priest. This culminates with the expulsion stage where the entity makes its final desperate attempts to maintain control before being eradicated from the victim.
ET Hybrids
During the first hour, alien abduction expert Dr. David Jacobs talked about ET hybrids. He explained that, over the last 10 years, his research into alien abduction has forced him to come to the conclusion that a race of ET hybrids are currently living on planet Earth amongst the human population. Jacobs warned that these hybrids resemble humans so well that it would be impossible to determine their true origins and claimed that they also possess mind control abilities which could protect them from detection. He theorized that the ET hybrids have been placed here on Earth as part of a larger agenda aimed at taking over the planet, but was reticent to speculate as to the ultimate goal of such an acquisition.