Horror movies are not my thing, thats for sure. I'm don't like to lose my sleep for a movie, for entertainment. But, with encouragement from my brother [He had claimed the movie was good], Mandy, Jesiska and I decided to watch. We knew it was going to be frightening and that we will lose many nights of sleep, but heck, we went along with it anyways.
Truth be told, I wasn't really afraid or anything, at first that is. I thought maybe this movie will help strengthen my faith in some ways or another. However, the fact that this movie was supposedly based on a true story of a girl named Anneliese Michel, haunted me day after day, night after night. To know that people can get possessed by evil spirits and demons is a scarey thought. You must admit that. I mean, you wouldn't know if you might end up like Anneliese Michel. No one knows, except God and the spirits. Its frightening isn't it? Think about it. One day you are normal, living your everyday life, and the next thing you know, you are possessed.
One is hyper-sensitive to risk being possessed is what many say. The thing is, you do not know if you are hyper-sensitive. So that doesn't really make one safe because one never knows. In this movie, you see human succumbed to the demons. We are frail, and weak. We always think we are so great and strong, but we ain't. Even technology can't help anyone who is possessed. Our world is becoming to materialistic and all sense of conscience are slowly disappearing. As seen in the show, Doctors and lawyers believe its a medical problem. Why? They are thinking according to the 'book'. They dare not venture out and think of other possibilities. God is the most powerful, and why aren't we believing in Him?
Back to the movie, I was really touched at the part where 'Emily Rose' wrote in the letter that she had seen Mother Mary and was given a choice to either go with Mother Mary to heaven or stay on Earth to suffer so that WE will believe. It was said that Mother Mary told 'Emily Rose' that God knew of her suffering, and she isn't suffering for nothing. The best part was when 'Emily Rose' decided to stay on and suffer for mankind to believe. Its really very selfless of her to choose that, and I appluad her for that decision. Because i know if i was in her shoes, i will choose to end the suffering and go to heaven. Sadly that is.
And 'Emily Rose' was seen to have stigmata there and then. [ Stigmata is spontaneous manifestation of bloody wounds on a person's hands, feet, forehead and back - similar to the wounds of the crucified Jesus. Those who describe stigmata categorize these experiences as divine or mystical] One now can't deny that God is with her, and what she had was not a medical problem.
The whole movie was great. I encourage all of you to watch, especially christians and catholics, to strengthen your believe, your faith. But the faint-hearted should stay clear of this movie, because nightmares and lost of sleep is one of the 'side-effects' from watching this movie. Anyways, I've done research on Anneliese Michel's life, which the movie is actually based on. So here it is,
Emily Rose: The Real Story of Anneliese Michel's ExorcismFrom her birth on the 21st of September, 1952, Anneliese Michel enjoyed thelife of a normal, religiously nurtured young girl. Without warning, her life changed on a day in 1968 when she began shaking and found she was unable to control her body. She could not call out for her parents, Josef and Anna, or any of her 3 sisters. A neurologist at the Psychiatric Clinic Wurzburg diagnosed her with "Grand Mal" epilepsy. Because of the strength of the epileptic fits, and the severity of the depression that followed, Anneliese was admitted for treatment at the hospital.
Soon after the attacks began, Anneliese started seeing devilish grimaces during her daily praying. It was the fall of 1970, and while the young people of the world were enjoying the liberal freedoms of the time,Anneliese was battling with the belief that she was possessed.It seemed there was no other explanation for the appearance of devilish visions during her prayers. Voices also began following her, saying Anneliese will "stew in hell". She mentioned the "demons" to the doctors only once, explaining that they have started to give her orders. The doctors seem unable to help, and Anneliese lost hope that medicine was going to be able to cure her.
In the summer of 1973, her parents visited different pastors to request an exorcism. Their requests were rejected and they were given recommendations that the now 20 year old Anneliese should continue with medication and treatment. It was explained that the process by which the Church proves a possession (Infestatio) is strictly defined, and until all the criterium is met, a Bishop can not approve an exorcism. The requirements, to name a few,include an aversion to religious objects, speaking in a language the person has never learned, and supernatural powers.
In 1974, after supervising Anneliese for some time, Pastor Ernst Alt requested a permit to perform the exorcism from the Bishop of Wurzburg. The request was rejected, and a recommendation soon followed saying thatAnneliese should live even more of a religious lifestyle in order to find peace. The attacks did not diminish, and her behavior became more irratic.At her parents house in Klingenberg, she insulted, beat, and began biting the other members of her family. She refused to eat because the demons would not allow it. Anneliese slept on the stone floor, ate spiders, flies, and coal, and even began drinking her own urine. She could be heard screaming throughout the house for hours while breaking crucifixes, destroying paintings of Jesus, and pulling apart rosaries. Anneliese began committing acts of self-mutilation at this time, and the act of tearing off her clothes and urinating on the floor became commonplace.
After making an exact verification of the possession in September 1975, the Bishop of Wurzburg, Josef Stangl, assigned Father Arnold Renz and Pastor Ernst Alt with the order to perform "The Great Exorcism" on Anneliese Michel. The basis for this ritual was the "Rituale Romanum", which was still, at the time, a valid Cannon Law from the 17th century. It was determined that Anneliese must be saved from the possession by several demons, including Lucifer, Judas Iscariot, Nero, Cain, Hitler, and Fleischmann, a disgraced Frankish Priest from the 16th century, and someother damned souls which had manifested through her. From September '75 until July '76, one or two exorcism sessions were held each week.Anneliese's attacks were sometimes so strong that she would have to be held down by 3 men, or even chained up. During this time, Anneliese found her life somewhat return to normal as she could again go to school, take final examinations at the Pedagogic Academy in Wurzburg, and go to church.
The attacks, however, did not stop. In fact, she would more often find herself paralyzed and falling unconscious than before. The exorcism continued over many months, always with the same prayers and incantations.Sometimes family members and visitors, like one married couple that claims to have "discovered" Anneliese, would be present during the rituals. For several weeks, Anneliese denied all food. Her knees ruptured due to the 600 genuflections she performed obsessively during the daily exorcism. Over 40 audio tapes record the process, in order to preserve the details.
The last day of the Exorcism Rite was on June 30th, 1976, and Anneliese was suffering at this point from Pneumonia. She was also totally emaciated, and running a high fever. Exhausted and unable to physically perform the genuflections herself, her parents stood in and helped carry her through the motions. "Beg for Absolution" is the last statement Anneliese made to the exorcists. To her mother, she said, "Mother, I'm afraid." Anna Michel recorded the death of her daughter on the following day, July 1st, 1976, and at noon, Pastor Ernst Alt informed the authorities in Aschaffenburg. The senior prosecutor began investigating immediately.
A short time before these final events unfolded, William Friedkin's "TheExorcist" (1974) came to the cinemas in Germany, bringing with it a wave of paranormal hysteria that flooded the nation. Psychiatrists all over Europe reported an increase of obsessive ideas among their patients. Prosecutors took more than 2 years to take Annaliese's case to court, using that time to sort through the bizarre facts. Anneliese's parents and the two exorcists were accused of negligent homocide. The "Klingenberg Case" would be decided upon two questions: What caused the death of Anneliese Michel, and who was responsible?
According the forensic evidence, "Anneliese starved to death". Specialists claimed that if the accused would have begun with forced feeding one weekbefore her death, Anneliese's life would have been saved. One sister told the court that Anneliese did not want to go to a mental home where she would be sedated and forced to eat. The exorcists tried to prove the presence of the demons, playing taped recordings of strange dialogues like that of two demons arguing about which one of them would have to leave Anneliese's body first. One of the demons called himself Hitler, and spoke with a Frankish accent (Hitler was born in Austria). Not one of those present during the exorcism ever had a doubt about the authenticity of the presence of these demons.
The psychiatrists, whom had been ordered to testify by the court, spoke about the "Doctrinaire Induction". They said that the priests had provided Anneliese with the contents of her psychotic behavior. Consequentially, they claimed, she later accepted her behavior as a form of demonic possession.They also offered that Anneliese's unsettled sexual development, along with her diagnosed Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, had influenced the psychosis.
The verdict was considered by many as not as harsh as they expected.Anneliese's parents, as well as the exorcists, were found guilty of manslaughter resulting from negligence and omitting first aid. They were sentenced to 6 months in jail and probation. The verdict included the opinion of the court that the accused should have helped by taking care of the medical treatment that the girl needed, but instead, their use of naive practices aggrivated Anneliese's already poor constitution.
A commission of the German Bishop-Conference later declared that Anneliese Michel was not possessed, however, this did not keep believers from supporting her struggles, and it was because so many believed in her that Anneliese's body did not find peace with death. Her corpse was exhumed eleven and a half years after her burial, only to confirm that it had decayed as would have been expected under normal circumstances. Today, her grave remains a place of pilgrimage for rosary-praying and for those who believe that Anneliese Michel bravely fought the devil.
In 1999, Cardinal Medina Estevez presented journalists in Vatican-City the new version of the "Rituale Romanum" that has been used by the CatholicChurch since 1614. The updates came after more than 10 years of editing and is called "De exorcismis et supplicationibus quibusdam" otherwise known as"The exorcism for the upcoming millennium". The Pope approbated the new Exorcism Rite, which is now allowed for worldwide use. This new form ofexorcism came after the German Bishop-Conference demanded to ultimately abolish the "Rituale Romun". It also came more than 20 years after AnnelieseMichel had died.The next article has no connection whatsoever to the Anneliese Michel's case.
Exorcism in RussiaHear an extraordinary recording of an actual exorcism. A sixteen-year-old girl sits in a chair in a Russian Orthodox Church. She is being held down by her mother. Light filters in from high windows and the air is thick with tension and the smell of holy incense. A priest stands over her reading the rite of exorcism. The girl squirms in her mother's arms, groaning and growling as if the priest's words were a torment to her mind and soul. The girl struggles violently, her groans becoming inhuman howls and deep, guttural moans of psychological pain. Then she lashes out at the priest, and in a voice that seems not to be her own, spits words of defiance.
[This is not a scene from a Hollywood production. This is a partial description of an actual exorcism that took place in a Russian parish on May 1, 2004. ]
You can hear an actual recorded excerpt from this exorcism here (Windows MediaPlayer required). WARNING: Do not listen if you are easily upset or disturbed by such things. Although there is no foul language, in English anyway, the sounds may be disturbing to some.
This recording was made by Eugene Safronov, who is an assistant to one of the exorcists in the Russian Orthodox Church. Although he did not assist in this particular case, he was a witness, and has assisted another priest in many other instances.
Another case in Russia
Eugene did not know the girl in this case personally, but as an assistant to an exorcist in the diocese he attends many of the “deliverance services” that take place in various parishes across Russia. This is how he came to record this exorcism, which was conducted by Father Basil.
The deliverance ministry in Russia, Eugene explains, is relatively new, but growing. It is similar to such ministries in the Anglican Church in England, which has a long tradition. In Russia, these ministries are becoming more organized, working with open-minded psychiatrists and other medical professionals for people who come to them (or are brought to them) with significant problems.
How the girl came to be possessed is not known. Eugene did not have an opportunity to speak with the girl or her mother, but as he understood it, she had some involvement with the occult, either in practice or she consulted with an occult practitioner.
The people who go to such practitioners go for personal advice, much as people go to storefront “psychic readers” in the U.S. They claim to be able to rid their customers of curses and such. “The problem is,” Eugene says, “things go wrong and can make a problem much worse” for someone who might have a psychological problem. It may be an entry point for the diabolic.
After this exposure to the occult, the girl’s mother noticed a radical change in her daughter’s behavior and brought her to the deliverance service. (It is not known what kind of medical or psychiatric treatment, if any, was sought first.)
Besides individual exorcisms, Russian parishes offer open deliverance services to which any number of people can come. A less formal rite is conducted at these services.
There are similar ministries in the U.S., such as Bob Larson Ministries among others, whose exorcising services are even televised. During the ceremony, audience members who supposedly have demons in them spontaneously jump up, begin shouting, babble in incoherent language or go into spasms until the minister casts the demons out (and then asks for donations, of course).
In Russia, Eugene has witnessed unusual things at these open deliverance services. He says he has seen demons speaking [through people] to one another in the church. "The demons use the people's voices and speak to one another in the church and also discuss things that the people in which they live could not possibly know," Eugene says.
In the case of the sixteen-year-old girl, she was in a one-on-one session with Father Basil. Watching from just several feet away, Eugene could see that the girl possessed extraordinary strength as her mother struggled to keep her seated. As can be heard on the recording, her voice changed radically. Her face contorted and displayed “total hate” for the priest as she cursed at him.
Toward the end of the recording, the girl, with an unearthly voice, shouts something in Russian at the priest. The translation, Eugene says, is, “I am not leaving her! I am not!”
The demonic voice sounds like something right off the soundtrack of The Exorcist. Was the girl imitating the Linda Blair character in the movie? Eugene, who has been assisting in these exorcisms for several years, does not think so. Those movies are not well known in Russia, he says.
Although the exorcism lasted about a half hour, Eugene says that it was not a success, and he didn’t know if the girl and her mother would seek further treatment.
See Part 2 of this series: Exorcism in Russia: The Video, which brings you video from Russia of actual exorcisms.
WARNING: Do not listen if you are easily upset or disturbed by such things. Although there is no foul language, in English anyway, the sounds may be disturbing to some.
13.11.05
(SALVATION)
