After performing over 6,000 exorcisms in his lifetime, 80-year-old Mexican priest Fr. Francisco Lopez Sedano can confidently say that the devil is afraid of him. However, he clarified that the devil is fearful of him not because of his track record but because God is on his side.
During an interview with the newspaper Hoy Los Angeles (Los Angeles Today), Sedano said the devil often speaks to him through possessed people. He always responds with this statement: "I am nobody, but I come from Christ, your Lord and God and you leave right now – I command you in His name that you go. Out!"
Sedano is the national coordinator emeritus of exorcism for the Archdiocese of Mexico, and he belongs to the order of the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit. He is currently serving at the Parish of the Holy Cross in Mexico City, according to the Catholic News Agency.
The priest also shared four things he learned in his 40 years as an exorcist. First, he learned that the devil is a person and not a thing. So when talking with a demon, Sedano said people should remember "one isn't talking with a thing, one is talking with a person."
Because the devil wants to separate people from God and frighten them, he brings them fatigue, laziness, desperation, hate, and distrust.
Next, Sedano said the devil possesses a person only because they allow him to do so. "He can't enter us if we do not open doors," the priest said. "Because of this, God prohibits the practice of magic, superstition, witchcraft, sorcery, divination, consulting the dead and spirits and astrology. These are the seven lands of lies and deceit."
He said one of the biggest lie ever told to man is that the stars influence one's life. The same goes with magic, "which attributes to objects a power that they don't have. To carry a horseshoe because it's going to give me good luck – it's a lie."
Third, Sedano said possessed people exhibit specific behaviours, such as shouting, barking like a dog, screaming or writhing, or squirming like a snake on the ground. Possessed people also display extraordinary strength.
One time, an 18-year-old boy who was possessed managed to push five large benches that would have normally taken 10 people to move.
"He had a terrible strength. We had to get him between three people to practice the exorcism," Sedano said.
The veteran exorcist revealed that some possessed people are able to climb walls and even fly.
The devil also likes to play tricks on people he possesses, and makes them feel hatred or rejection from God. He also enjoys making them feel pain. Unfortunately, there's no cure for the damage he inflicts, Sedano said.
Lastly, the priest said his years of service as an exorcism taught him that it is a divine mandate. "A fellow priest who was involved in it made me see that fighting the Evil One was an obligation. He said to me, 'You have to enter into this by the command of the Lord.' The three mandates are to carry the word of God, heal the sick and cast out demons," he said.
