Can other religions perform successful exorcisms?

October 4, 2018
In Jesus Name

ANSWER!

In a 2007 talk on exorcism at Mundelein Seminary near Chicago, Father Jose Antonio Fortea, Spain's chief exorcist, provided a number of insights regarding the phenomena of demonic activity.  He described the action of exorcism as a battle in which people engage with spiritual weapons.  Objectively speaking, Catholics and Orthodox Christians have essentially the full range of spiritual weapons provided to them by the Church, which they can use with great power against demons.  This is because these two churches are heirs of the apostolic Tradition (which includes the ordained priesthood).  Since it was to the Apostles that the power to "bind and loose" was given, the spiritual power of the apostolic churches is greatest.  While this ministry and spiritual power is objectively held by the church, the subjective application of spiritual warfare with these weapons will very much depend upon the individual exorcist's faith and holiness.

Other Christian churches have fewer weapons to fight spiritual evil, but they do have a certain spiritual power through using the Name of Jesus and through the intensity of their faith.  I have seen situations where Protestant deliverance ministers could not handle cases of possession and actually referred them to the Catholic Church for expulsion.  This is only to say that other Christians often lack the full range of spiritual weapons to combat potent evil.  However, their potency of faith and pursuit of holiness in Christ is oftentimes extremely admirable and powerful against demons.

Fr. Fortea said that (modern) Jewish rabbis have no real tradition of exorcism and do not practice it as such.  They certainly would not use the Name of Jesus to exorcise, or if they did, they would not use it with the faith in His divine power required for it to be effective.  The Acts of the Apostles recounts the humorous story of the Jewish "sons of Sceva" who were beaten up by a demon when they attempted to cast it out using Jesus' Name, but without faith.

Muslim have no priesthood and lack a coherent centralized spiritual authority to call upon in dealing with the demonic.  They do have some inchoate practice of exorcism which is done by the recitation of parts of the Q'uran that give praise to God.  This, Fr. Fortea says, causes the demons to suffer.  They also use religious symbols like incense and water effectively. The devil understands the symbolic value of these symbols of worship, and if there is sufficient prayer, an exorcism can be successful.  Nevertheless, as Muslims have fewer weapons to fight evil, only relatively easy cases will be resolved, and these will take much longer.

Some Buddhist monks have even been known to perform successful exorcisms, but their power over evil is related simply to the blessing that God bestows upon people of sincere faith, whatever their religious tradition.  We can see how good God is to all people in that He provides some sort of spiritual remedy against evil when He finds authentic faith.  There are many fonts of God's mercy flowing out of His Most Sacred Heart, but undoubtedly the Name of Jesus and the Apostolic Succession is the widest and deepest river from which to draw resources and weapons for battle.

By Fr. Thomas J. Euteneuer "Exorcism and The Church Militant" page 11.