John DiGirolamo, author of "It's Not About the Devil," joins the show to talk about the dangers of Satanism and witchcraft in today's world. John talks about his new book, "Not About The Devil," and what he thinks about modern Satanism.
00:00:00.000Parents have to realize that even if you have a kid-appropriate game, learning game, learning your letters and colors, things like that, the game might be appropriate, but that doesn't mean that it's safe.
00:00:15.260I mean, ultimately, you wouldn't let your 11-year-old walk around the mall by herself. Why would you let her go around the internet by herself?
00:00:30.000Hello, my friends. Do you ever wonder about the occult in today's world? Like, there's so much weird stuff going on. Not only do we have rampant abortion and now the whole alphabet people phenomenon, we have these weird things going on like we just had with the Olympics.
00:00:46.860It looked like overt Satanism throughout the whole thing. First, they bash Christ, then the ending ceremony came that just wacko insanity.
00:00:55.560I thought I'd talk with somebody who can give us an insider perspective on this. Someone who has just written a book called It's Not About the Devil, who really can go in-depth with us as to the occult in today's world, the dangers of it.
00:01:12.860You're going to want to stay tuned to this episode of the John Henry Weston Show.
00:01:15.940This October 17th and 18th, we are going to be running Rome Life Forum in Exile.
00:01:23.980We're doing that in Kansas City, Missouri.
00:01:26.540This fine bishop, Bishop Joseph Strickland, sort of in exile, is going to be joining us there, as well as Dr. Janet Smith, as well as prophecy expert Xavier Aral, and many more, including a special guest.
00:01:45.940John DiGirolamo, welcome to the program.
00:01:49.800Hey, thanks for having me. Really appreciate being here.
00:01:52.300Let's begin, as we always do, with the sign of the cross.
00:01:54.380In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
00:01:59.640So, John, you've got this new book out. You describe your book as being dramatized non-fiction, and it's called It's Not About the Devil.
00:02:09.280So, give us some background there. First of all, It's Not About the Devil? Wait a minute.
00:02:13.120Isn't all evil come from the devil? What do you mean by that?
00:02:15.460Yeah, so, what I mean by that is, it's about people who are standing up to modern evil.
00:02:21.580And hopefully, people will find these stories as an inspiration to push back against a lot of what's happening in our society.
00:02:30.060And what I mean by dramatized non-fiction is, these are real stories based upon, you know, actual individuals, testimony, case files, etc.
00:02:41.060And I take all that information and create a compelling plot to tell their stories.
00:02:48.380So, it includes action, dialogue, emotion, etc.
00:02:52.040I go back and forth with the person profile to edit and make sure that it's as accurate as possible.
00:02:59.280But there's some filling in the blanks, you know, some things that happened decades ago.
00:03:03.980And so, my job is to take that information, take that testimony, and try to create a compelling plot line that people want to find out what's happening next in their story.
00:03:15.360Indeed. And you're an author, you've done lots of in-depth research on much of this stuff and your cases individually.
00:03:22.000But I'd like to focus first on the occult.
00:03:24.580We just saw the Olympics, first of all, a bash on the Last Supper, our Lord, very directly.
00:03:29.220Then they tried to say, no, it wasn't. Yes, it was, and all this nonsense.
00:03:31.900In the ending ceremony, that was like full-on Satan.
00:03:34.680That was unbelievable. Images of Antichrist and stuff like that.
00:03:37.740And then we see these huge Baphomet statues.
00:05:00.520So, you know, if you invite God into your life, he is going to answer.
00:05:05.820But if you invite Satan or the demonic or forces other than God, that's going to be answered as well.
00:05:14.340And so you're opening the door to these kinds of things, whether it's witchcraft or Ouija boards or seances.
00:05:21.220You were at a college party 25 years ago playing a Ouija board.
00:05:25.640You're going to all of a sudden get diabolically oppressed.
00:05:28.720But like any risk, the more you do it, the more you open that door, the more you extend that invitation, the devil is going to step through that door.
00:05:53.440So it can go into some kind of diabolical oppression or obsession.
00:06:00.240You know, I interviewed a woman who did seances for a decade.
00:06:04.180And it just eventually got really dark and she felt like that there were, you know, just mentally and physically tormented.
00:06:14.640And eventually she got out of that situation, turned back to the church in Christ.
00:06:21.260And now she's actually a counselor for people who have been through similar circumstances.
00:06:28.660You know, that's just kind of one example.
00:06:30.500It can lead to possession, but I don't want to over sensationalize possession, which an exorcist priest will tell you that that's pretty rare, pretty severe, where most of the time there's a little more diabolical influence going on as opposed to a full blow possession.
00:06:50.500So they're feeling tormented, but this lady, at least, she recognized it.
00:06:55.900I think there's often a lot of people who don't recognize it.
00:06:59.060But what are some of the signs, some of the symptoms, perhaps, that people can see, if not full on possession, at least, you know, negative spiritual, the devil actually affecting them in some way?
00:07:10.200Yeah, I think, you know, it's sometimes hard to discern because you have free will, right?
00:07:16.760So you can have free will to reject God, to pursue vice and sin, but the devil is going to be there encouraging you to do so, to reject God.
00:07:29.740And so you may see things like where somebody is pulling away from their family, where they are, you know, having reactions to religious objects.
00:07:41.120And they're really focused on themselves, and they're only going to look for people to affirm that lifestyle or affirm whatever they're doing.
00:07:52.340And so you'll see them pull away from that.
00:07:55.500You know, there are physical signs, but the people that I've interviewed, they really tell you that it comes down to having an unquiet mind.
00:08:03.560And you just seem to always have a secondary voice of when they're being diabolically afflicted.
00:08:11.100It's sort of a secondary sort of sinister voice.
00:08:13.620God willing, you know, we've always had that image from cartoons and whatnot of the devil on one side and your guardian angel on the other.
00:08:22.100Is there any of that kind of thing in those whom you've interviewed?
00:08:26.120Having a positive influence is a real thing, but so is the opposite of having a fallen angel.
00:08:32.980And it's really almost like that, you know, one is on one shoulder and the opposite's on the other one, trying to influence you.
00:08:42.800You know, the devil's job, demon's job, is to have you reject God, pursue sin, and ultimately take your soul down to hell.
00:08:55.020That's what their whole goal is to corrupt us.
00:08:58.280It's just like the St. Michael prayer, where it's they're prowling around the world seeking the corruption of souls.
00:09:04.480This lady you interviewed for the book, who did all the seances and whatnot, did she actually get possessed?
00:09:10.280She did tell me that she was possessed, yes, for a short period of time.
00:09:15.500And she was kind of more of a background, to help me with background information.
00:09:19.560She did not show up as a character in the story.
00:10:38.000Some are things that lay people or any Christian can say.
00:10:43.180Others are more reserved for a priest during an actual exorcism of a possessed person.
00:10:50.380And so there's definitely some differences.
00:10:53.220But essentially what they do is they are invoking the power of Christ and they are telling the demon to go to the foot of the cross and have Jesus do what he wills to do.
00:11:04.720And it's, you know, it's not something where you can just throw, you know, a little holy water on somebody and boom, you're done.
00:11:13.060It's something that takes a lot of time because the demons aren't going to let go unless they're forced to do so.
00:11:20.160And so it's something that there's a lot of repetitive prayers that you're rejecting the cult.
00:11:26.780You're rejecting the power of the demons.
00:11:29.920You're affirming, you know, your love of Christ, things like that.
00:11:32.860And that eventually wears down the demon.
00:11:35.680It's not a one and done, I guess, is what I want the audience to know.
00:11:39.140That's really strange, of course, because in the beginning it was sort of one and done.
00:11:55.100Talking to exorcists, they will tell you it takes months, sometimes years.
00:11:59.340And this was a kind of a surprise when I did my research, is the person has to want to be liberated from a demon.
00:12:07.640Now, that sounds a little counterintuitive, right?
00:12:09.980Why would anybody want a demon inside?
00:12:13.120Why wouldn't they want to go to a priest?
00:12:15.400And the answer is that in order for the exorcism to work, in order for any kind of cleansing to work, the person has to be in the frame of mind with their heart and soul to want to reject whatever situation, sin, occult practice that got them there in the first place.
00:12:39.600And you have to couple that with your pursuit of Christ.
00:12:44.220If you're not doing those two things, then the exorcist is going to, I don't want to say be powerless, but it's going to be pretty ineffective.
00:12:54.180That person has to want to turn their life around.
00:12:57.680And if they don't, then it's really not going to work.
00:13:02.120And so, you know, part of the plot line in my book was showing how the person who was diabolically afflicted is going back and forth.
00:14:39.700And you've got to come to that realization.
00:14:42.800So the plan, and that plan is whether or not, you know, at any age, whatever your relationship is with God, you could always strengthen it and make it better.
00:15:12.700When I was talking to Father Ruppiger about this subject, especially about the delays in terms of how it's not wanted done and it's now so, so protracted.
00:15:21.920He has actually said to me, you know, years ago it was much shorter.
00:16:17.180They're examining what you're doing with your life.
00:16:19.760And there's typically a 30-day program where you're praying certain prayers, certain times of the day, things like that.
00:16:29.040So there's a pretty good vetting process.
00:16:31.660That all takes time as well because a lot of times it could be a mental health issue, et cetera.
00:16:37.640And so I think that's adding to the length of time because I think the church is getting better trained to do that instead of just, you know, kind of handing down this information through word of mouth.
00:16:54.300I think it's getting a little more formalized.
00:17:12.760I wanted to write a story to see how somebody transformed from doing abortions to seeing the value of human life.
00:17:23.320And so I profiled Dr. Catherine Wheeler, and it was a decades-long journey.
00:17:29.400And it's not just an abortion story per se, but, you know, Catherine, you know, kind of bought into the lie of, you know, helping women and health care and things like that.
00:17:41.960But then there was this dramatic moment in the operating room where she truly felt the presence of evil.
00:17:51.460And what she calls it is kind of God shaking that tree, getting her attention.
00:17:56.140Pope Pius XI said, men must look for the peace of Christ in the kingdom of Christ.
00:18:04.900And he urged that the faithful give public honor to Christ the King so that individuals and states would submit once more to the rule of their Savior.
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00:18:30.960But the story doesn't end there because, you know, Catherine's personality was to needing to be kind of nudged along where it wasn't just this turn on a dime situation.
00:18:45.520There was this decades-long journey where she said, you know, God was holding her hand, getting her through the process of realizing the value of the unborn, the lies from the pro-abortion lobby.
00:19:00.280And it also paralleled her journey back to the church, back to Christ, and realizing that, you know, God is not there to crush you for your sins, but to save you from your sins.
00:19:15.280And so there's these other sort of subplots going on in her story.
00:19:20.240She goes through divorce, and so there's this emotional, you know, entanglement going through that.
00:19:27.120And then just like a lot of people who have had abortions, a doctor needs to go through that abortion recovery program and get that healing.
00:19:37.800And there were some miscarriages, guilt associated with miscarriages, something that doesn't really get talked about that much, but it's integrated into the story.
00:19:48.140So to me, it's really coming from Catherine's heart and being able to go through this decades-long journey of hers to realize these things, get healed, get her relationship with Christ strengthened.
00:20:01.400And that finally gave her the wherewithal to be an advocate, not just, okay, I agree with pro-life, but to be an outspoken advocate that really wasn't her personality when the story started.
00:20:16.400So to me, it's kind of an inspirational story where you can see how somebody changed and just got the gumption to speak the truth.
00:20:25.300Indeed. One of the neat aspects, or not neat, but interesting aspects of today's culture is that the abortion debate has sort of changed.
00:20:35.320For a long time, it was like, oh, it's not a child. It's not killing. It's just a clump of cells, and we're just removing the cells.
00:20:41.960It's become a lot more, yeah, we can acknowledge biology. It's a woman's right to choose.
00:20:46.600And if that, you know, life is inconvenient to her, then she has every right to choose to have an abortion, and it's a good thing anyway.
00:20:53.300And now they're having these weird funerals for your child that you aborted.
00:21:00.020Things are sort of out and proud. Where do you think that's come from?
00:21:04.740Yeah, it really has gone into the loud and proud, shout your abortion, things like that.
00:21:09.980And I think it really ties back to the culture.
00:21:14.240And you've got a culture where marriage is devalued.
00:21:17.980You know, relationships are disposable.
00:21:20.180And so if you don't love the person you're with, you don't really care about the relationship, then they don't care about a child that might be created as a result of that relationship.
00:21:32.960And so, you know, the next logical step along that thinking is that, well, that unborn child doesn't have any value, so it's really not a big deal.
00:21:44.280And when people try to remind them that it's a moral question, then they get really angry about it.
00:21:51.480And they're just now emboldened to shout that out.
00:21:55.240They've got celebrities who are also in that line of thinking.
00:21:59.960And so they just don't want to hear that it really is a person with a soul, has value.
00:22:08.240And they're just really angry when you point that out.
00:22:10.940And it's no longer safe, legal, and rare.
00:22:28.320And so in many places, certain states, you know, they're winning that narrative.
00:22:33.280It's an interesting concept, you know, the whole idea about how it bugs the conscience, and then that creates this sort of violent counterreaction.
00:22:41.780It is always what I thought about, you know, in Revelation, I think it's in chapter 11, they talk about the two end time prophets.
00:22:49.360And the weird part of the story is that they get killed by Antichrist, and their bodies lie in the streets for like three days.
00:22:56.420But the weirdest part of the story is that, first of all, everyone in the world sees this.
00:23:01.560But secondly, they give gifts to one another because these two are dead.
00:23:06.260And I was always of the conviction that they were so happy that they were dead because they tormented the consciences of the people just by being good, holy, and still faithful, whereas everybody else has left the faith.
00:23:37.120And when you try to point them out to say that, no, there is a universal truth, and they get really angry.
00:23:44.180They have this visceral reaction because I think deep down they know that you're right, that you're correct.
00:23:51.980But they just don't want to be told what to do.
00:23:56.320And, you know, that's why they're going to come back and say, you can't judge me, et cetera.
00:24:00.620And then use these bumper sticker mentalities of, like, you know, my body, my choice, things like that.
00:24:06.420One of the very interesting aspects of your book I think that many people will be interested in is about online predators.
00:24:12.220I think one of the things that a lot of parents are waking up to now is that many of the video games that their kids are innocently playing are these video games that are interactive.
00:24:26.340And they can interact with predators just as part of the game.
00:24:30.440Tell us about online predation and its dangers today.
00:24:46.280You know, if you look at the why, where and how this happens, you know, these predators are either after pictures, they're after some kind of extortion scenario, or they want to meet in person.
00:25:01.560And that's why they're doing what they're doing.
00:25:33.020And so parents have to realize that even if you have a kid-appropriate game, learning game, learning your letters and colors, things like that, the game might be appropriate, but that doesn't mean that it's safe.
00:25:49.620I mean, ultimately, you wouldn't let your 11-year-old walk around the mall by herself.
00:25:54.460Why would you let her go around the internet by herself?
00:25:57.800What are some other tips for parents that you can give them?
00:26:01.280So this story profiles Officer David Gomez, who is quoted as saying, when asked, when should I get my kid a smartphone?
00:26:11.620And his answer was, when you want your kids to watch pornography.
00:26:14.960It's really true, because the average age now is about 10 years old, and so you're really getting this warped sense of intimacy.
00:26:26.260And at that age, they really can't handle it, and it can be very addicting, and it gives you this warped sense of what's going on.
00:26:33.940And, you know, something like 53% of boys think that that's a real depiction of intimacy, and 40% of girls think that.
00:26:44.220So that's just a recipe for relationship disaster, in my opinion.
00:26:51.480So you've got to have that difficult conversation with your kids.
00:26:54.840This is an opportunity to talk about your biblical values, and there is such a thing called dumb phones, which don't have internet access, cannot send or receive pictures or videos, but you can send a text that says, hey, you know, I'm done with soccer practice, for example.
00:27:10.900You can use parental control software monitoring, but it's not 100%.
00:27:16.720You've got to realize that kids are always one, two, three steps ahead of technology and what parents know.
00:27:26.540So you really have to have that relationship with your kid, so if something looks weird to them, if somebody has approached them, they're going to come to you and not respond to that.
00:27:37.540So it really takes being better parenting and less trying to be the kid's friend.
00:27:42.560You have a concept in your book about sextortion.
00:29:32.640You know, the theme of the book is people fighting evil and how to stand up to it and seeing how three individuals profile do that.
00:29:41.720You know, I tried to write it like a fast-paced fiction novel.
00:29:44.860So, you know, it's not a research report.
00:29:47.680It's not an editorial opinion page piece.
00:29:51.500These are stories with plot lines, but they're about real people.
00:29:55.620And I think people will walk away after reading it with learning some things.
00:30:01.540How do online predators actually work?
00:30:04.300The insider's view of what happens in an exorcism, that transformation of walking with Christ and walking away from being an abortion doctor.
00:30:14.780John DiGirolamo, so good to be with you.