Ep 106 - The Devil is Real and Why We Should Not Fear Him with Fr. Lampert

This is another one of our most popular episodes from 2023! Father Vincent Lampert, the exorcist of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, discusses various topics related to the reality of the devil and spiritual warfare. He shares his background as an exorcist and the process of discerning and preparing for exorcisms. Father Lampert also addresses the rise in demonic activity and the fascination with the occult. He emphasizes the importance of confession and the power of fathers in leading their families in spiritual warfare. Father Lampert provides practical tips for combating the demonic and encourages individuals to seek help from their parish priests. He concludes by highlighting the role of exorcism in evangelization. In this conversation, Father Lampert discusses the topic of exorcism and provides insights into the role of the Church in dealing with possession. He explains the process of discerning possession and the steps involved in performing an exorcism. Father Lampert also emphasizes the power of prayer in combating evil forces. 

Takeaways

• Confession is a powerful weapon against the devil and should be a regular practice for spiritual warfare.
• Fathers play a crucial role in leading their families in spiritual warfare and should prioritize their own spiritual growth.
• Seeking help from a parish priest is the first step in discerning and addressing demonic activity.
• The focus of spiritual warfare should be on God and His power, rather than on the devil. Exorcism is a real and important aspect of the Church's ministry.
• The Church plays a crucial role in discerning possession and providing spiritual guidance.
• The exorcism process involves careful evaluation and prayerful intervention.
• Prayer is a powerful tool in combating evil and protecting against spiritual attacks.

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Transcript

James Caldwell (00:00.77)
Hello all, welcome to another episode of the Manly Catholic. This is James, your host, and I promise this is the last week where we'll be reposting some of our best episodes of 2023. This one is definitely one that I'm looking forward to listening to again. It is from the first time I interviewed Father Vincent Lampert, who is the exorcist in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. We talk about so many incredible topics. The title of the episode is The Devil is Real.

and how to defeat him. We again, talk about so many different topics. Father Lampard shares some of his stories, talks about the importance of being the state of grace, why confession is so important, how we can, especially as men, build a life of virtue and discipline in order to help combat Satan and his demons. Again, another episode, which, gosh, I feel like I could repost this episode probably once a quarter with how pertinent and how important it is. And Father Lampard is just such an amazing priest.

is always so calm when he speaks about this. I think especially in Hollywood, we get this picture of what an exorcist is really about. But Father Lampert is like, that maybe happens 0.5% of the time. He's just so calm and clearly a man who devotes his life to Jesus Christ and the church as well. So again, this is a repost episode. This is from episode 76. Again, this is the first time I interviewed Father Vincent Lampert. The...

exorcist from the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. I really hope you guys enjoy. Please click that subscribe button. Please tell your friends about it. And please, as always, pray for us. Please be assured of our prayers for you. I hope you all enjoy and we'll see you next week with fresh episodes from the Manly Catholic. God bless. Hello all. Welcome to another episode of the Manly Catholic. I'm James, your host. And with me, we have a very special guest. We have Father Vincent Lampert from the Diocese of Indianapolis.

Father Lampert, welcome to the Manly Catholic Podcast. Thank you, James. It's good to be here with you today. Well, it's great to have you on and Father Lampert has been very gracious. I've had to reschedule with him several times. So he's a very flexible man. So we appreciate all the work that you put in to be here. So before we get started, Father Lampert, I just wanna ask if you don't mind just leading us in a prayer before we get started. Absolutely. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

James Caldwell (02:25.206)
Good and gracious God, we ask your blessing upon all of us as we gather here today for this conversation. We pray that in all of our thoughts, words, and actions that everything that we are about will be for your greater glory and to help build up your kingdom here on earth. We ask your blessing upon all of us now and upon all of our listeners. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen. Amen. Thank you, Father. And so, Father Lampert, I have heard of you before, but I really came to know your work and

as an exorcist during I think it was last fall on the hallow app you did this spiritual warfare series that they published and just a fascinating I think it was eight or nine or 10 sessions that you had on the hallow app. So I thought that was a tremendous resource for so for all of you out there, I highly recommend just go down on the hallow app and listen to Father Lampert's spiritual I think it was called spiritual warfare series of nine or eight sessions but

Now, Father Lampert, if you don't mind for our audience, maybe who doesn't know you aren't familiar with you, just give kind of a brief bio background on yourself and then maybe start off by telling our audience maybe one thing that surprised you when you became a priest that you didn't realize going in or one thing that our audience should recognize about the priest so that maybe we don't realize. Yeah. So I grew up in the city of Indianapolis.

and I was ordained a priest for the archdiocese on June the 1st of 1991. So this coming June, it will be 32 years since I was ordained a priest. And since 2005, I have been the mandated exorcist for the archdiocese of Indianapolis. You know, being ordained a priest, something that maybe people should realize is that when one is ordained a priest, they promise obedience to their bishop.

and his successors, which means that priests are called to be obedient to their bishop and to do what he asked them to do. So in my role as an exorcist, it wasn't a job that I was looking for, but it was a job that found me. So when the Archbishop told me in 2005 he was making the appointment for me to be the

James Caldwell (04:49.07)
Oh man, I think I've heard you talk or maybe it was another exorcist that said if you're actively looking to become an exorcist, you're the exact wrong man for the job. I think that was you that mentioned that. And so how does one even go about, I guess, being, I don't know, nominated is the right word? Or I guess how does the bishop decide then who is going to become the exorcist?

James Caldwell (05:18.174)
should be known for his holiness and piety. So it should be someone who believes in the reality of evil, but not one who will be too quick to believe that everyone who contacts me, who believes they're dealing with the demonic, that that's actually the case. You know, when I was appointed, the Archdiocese of Indianapolis has always had a priest in this role. So even when it fell out of practice after the Second Vatican Council, Indianapolis has always had a designated exorcist.

And so the Archbishop even told me, he goes, I'm not really even sure what I'm asking you to do. But he goes, we've always had a priest in this role. And he goes, I do not wanna break that continuity. So then he sent me to Rome in the early part of 2006. The church says the best way to train is the apprenticeship model, to train under a seasoned exorcist. Well, at the time, I think I was only one of about 12 officially appointed exorcist in United States.

So there really wasn't anyone to train under here in the States. So I went to Rome and I was able to train under a Franciscan priest who allowed me to participate in 40 exorcisms over the three months that I lived in Rome. And then that allowed me to learn firsthand the ministry of the church to those who are dealing with the forces of evil and who were seeking the help of the church.

beautiful. Yeah. And so since 2005, you've seen a thing or two in your line of work, I can imagine. But I guess recently, have you noticed Father Lampert, maybe a rise in demonic activity or the amount of emails that I'm sure you receive on a daily basis? Have you noticed kind of a steady increase just based on kind of the hecticness in our culture with everything going on? Have you?

Have you noticed a shift or a dramatic shift I should ask? I think so. You know, not every exorcist is publicly known. In fact, many of them choose not to be known. But when I was appointed, my bishop said that if I was comfortable enough that I could be public in the role as a way to help educate people about what the church actually believes about the reality of evil and the fact that the devil is not just a metaphor.

James Caldwell (07:38.454)
but is a real living creature. So because I'm publicly known, before COVID-19, I was getting about 2,000 phone calls and emails and letters a year from people all over the world and from every faith background that you can imagine, other Christian faith traditions, other oral religions, some with no religious background whatsoever. But since COVID-19, I now receive 3,500 requests a year for help.

So I'm averaging about 70 requests every week from people all over the world that are seeking help.

So then Father Lambert, how do you go about, I guess, deciphering, like what would be, because I know you mentioned an email that you just had gotten, but how do you go about, you know, figuring out all those emails? Okay, what is legitimate? What is maybe something else? And I mean, do you have help in responding to all that? I mean, that's a lot of work for one man. I'm also the pastor of two parishes in the archdiocese of Indianapolis. So I pastor two parishes in Brookville, Indiana.

which is about 35 miles outside of Cincinnati, Ohio. So I live along the Indiana-Ohio state line. I have three people who help me to wade through all of the correspondence that I get. Obviously, I'm not able to help everyone directly who contacts me, but I try to network people with someone in their area who may be able to provide them with the help that they need. And certainly there are people that I simply cannot help.

There are some people out there that view the exorcist as a magician, that somehow I can make all of their problems go away. But it's not about me, it's really about Jesus Christ. And people need to realize that in an exorcism, Jesus is not a bystander, he's the main actor. And if people don't really want anything to do with Jesus, then there's really nothing that I can do to help them. Yeah, 100%. So I know too that...

James Caldwell (09:40.61)
Hollywood sensationalizes what actually goes on in exorcists. I know you have talked about in the Hallow Sessions and other exorcists have talked about, you know, the levitation, the things flying across the room. You talk about that's a very small percentage of what actually goes on. And you talk about too that the devil and the demons, they only use that as to try to distract you. Because as you just mentioned, it's all about Jesus.

And so they know that if you are just focused on Jesus, I mean, they can't, they can't do anything with that. So I guess maybe talk about the process that you undergo. So say that you went through the necessary steps, like, okay, there's something going on. I guess how do you prepare yourself? What do you know you're going to enter into? I guess like almost like Father River calls it like a boxing match almost. You know, how do you prepare yourself individually? Like, do you recruit help?

for people to pray for you specifically and how does that process go about? Yeah, there's a protocol that's used in the United States to determine if one is actually dealing with extraordinary demonic activity. And there's four types. Infestation, the presence of evil in a location or with an object. Vexation, which are physical attacks. Obsession, which are mental attacks. And then possession itself.

So the church requires someone to have some type of a psychiatric evaluation to rule out whether or not there's a mental cause for what they're experiencing. Some people will hear that and say, well, the church doesn't believe me. But the reality is, if one truly is dealing with the demonic, they need to be in a good mental place before an exorcism takes place. So there really is no harm in talking with a mental health professional. Secondly, the person needs to have a medical exam.

to rule out any physical cause. Now again, I'm not asking the doctor or the psychiatrist if they think someone's possessed. I will make that determination, but I want the best possible information that I can get. The church even says that, you know, the church would be doing greater harm if it labels someone as being possessed, and that labeling prevents them from getting the true help they need, either from the mental health profession or from their medical doctor.

James Caldwell (12:01.866)
Step three of the protocol would be to do an intake questionnaire, trying to determine where the entry point for the demonic was into the person's life. Step four, to look for four signs of possible extraordinary demonic presence. The ability to speak and understand languages otherwise unknown to the individual, superhuman strength, elevated perception, knowledge about things that person as an individual would not otherwise know. And then finally, a negative.

reaction to anything of a sacred nature such as being in a church, having the Bible read in front of them, being blessed with holy water, being shown a crucifix. And step five is probably the most important one and that is to help the person resume their spiritual life or to come to Christ for the very first time. I would even suggest that casting the demon out is the easy part. The hard part is to get someone to really invite God into their life.

Because the reality is, none of us has to do anything extraordinary to defeat the devil. As Catholics, it's the normal everyday aspects of our faith that will always defeat the devil. We go to mass, we pray, we celebrate the sacraments, we read the Bible. We're doing these things, the devil is already on the run. Now if I determine that somebody truly is dealing with the demonic, I prepare myself before doing an exorcism. I will celebrate mass. I will go to confession.

I will determine where the exorcism will take place. I jokingly say an exorcism never takes place in an abandoned house on a dead end street at midnight during a thunderstorm. That makes for a great movie, but the devil doesn't get to decide where he will be defeated. The church will make that determination. And then I will determine who will be present. Obviously, the afflicted person. I require them to bring a family member or friend. I'm present.

along with other people that I will invite to be there to pray. There is no such thing as exorcism tourism. There's nobody that's there out of a sense of curiosity. The reality is nobody would want to be there because when a demon manifests, what it does is it sizes up everyone in the room and determines where the weakest link is and then they will try to literally attack that person either physically or verbally as a way to disrupt the prayer of the church.

James Caldwell (14:27.046)
I will also reach out to other people and say, hey, I'll be doing an exorcism today. Will you pray during that time? Reaching out to men and women religious, they're very powerful intercessors when an exorcism is taking place. So it really is a prayer of the church and not just something that I'm doing. Yeah, and I love too what you talked about, Father Lampert, the protocol that the church goes through. And I think some people think...

Oh, we have these exorcists are just running around casting demons out of people who don't need to be casted out when clearly that is not the case at all. And I think that's one thing people don't realize about the church is that it's a very thorough investigation, not only into things like exorcisms, but even miracles in accordance with saints and things like that. But the church has a very good protocol in order to rule out anything else that might be not supernatural. But I did want to ask.

I was going to say, and people are surprised by that because I think people believe that because I'm the exorcist, if they tell me they're possessed, that I will just readily believe that. But an exorcist is trained to be a skeptic. So I should actually be the last person to believe that somebody truly is possessed. Every other possible explanation has to be exhausted before arriving at the point where a person needs to undergo the rite of exorcism.

Yeah, and you touched too when we first started the interview that people from all faith backgrounds and no faith backgrounds reaches out to you. So I guess I want to ask you, Father Lampro, what's with the fascination with the demonic? You know, the people who do occults and Ouija boards and things like that. And they seem to have a fascination with the spiritual realm, if you will, but not necessarily with God.

you know, an angel, but they tend to gravitate maybe towards the dark side of it. So maybe you can speak to that. What's with this fascination? Because we've all had this through, you know, throughout centuries, where the fascination with maybe the supernatural, if you will. I think it goes back to the fall of humanity mentioned in the book of Genesis, where the serpent says to Eve, you know, surely you will not die. You will become like gods. In other words, you don't need God.

James Caldwell (16:50.494)
you can take the role of God. And that's literally what the devil wanted. He wanted to take the place of God and he tries to convince humanity to do the same thing. So if you think about it, people that get caught up in like occult activities, if you will, somehow they believe the focus is on themselves, that they have certain powers and abilities to be able to manipulate creation, if you will. You know, people often tell me, well, there's

this energy or this that, you know, they use terminology like that, good energy or bad energy. But I think people don't realize that even though people may be doing something that they believe is fun or entertaining, they may not fully grasp the reality that they are opening themselves up to the forces of evil. Because in the world of the occult, for example, the power behind all of those activities is the demonic world. There's no power in any individual.

Even the church would say a psychic or a median doesn't have any powers that they claim to have because that's outside of human nature. It's always the forces of evil working in and through them. And either they've been duped by evil and believing they have powers such as to see into the future, you know, to say, well, I've been speaking to this deceased relative of yours, or they know that it's the power of evil working through them.

and they go along with it because they like the attention, the notoriety, or maybe the money that goes along with it. So people really need to be careful about what they engage in because the reality is they can actually be dealing with the demonic world. And even if we look at these things as just fun and entertaining, it doesn't mean that the devil won't use that as an opportunity to get a foothold into our lives. So I do believe that people invite the demonic in.

Directly, when they do things they know are wrong, and indirectly, when they believe that things may be fun or entertaining, but again may not fully grasp the understanding of what they're getting themselves into.

James Caldwell (18:57.71)
Yeah, I know you talk often to you about different ways like you mentioned that, that Satan can get a old of us or enter into our lives, so to speak. And I know as Catholics, you mentioned, you know, frequently frequenting the sacraments, you know, and I know you mentioned confession is, is the how did you word it? Confession is the ultimate exorcism or something. I forget what you the words that you use, but maybe touch on why confession is so

important in dealing with the demonic and the spiritual battle that we're in. You know, the word Satan means accuser. So the devil really wants to tempt us to give into sin to do something wrong, and then he accuses us before God. You know, like, well, look at you. You thought you were such a good person, but look at what you did. But when we confess our sins, we place them in the hands of God. And once we place them in the hands of God,

the devil no longer has anything that he can use to accuse us against. So that's why any exorcist will tell you that a good confession is better than an exorcism. And ultimately, no amount of exorcism or deliverance prayers can take the place of the need for one to declare the lordship of Jesus Christ in their life. So again, it's not just a matter of wanting the demonic to go away, it's really about fostering a right relationship with God.

That's why even in an exorcism, I don't really pay attention to all the manifestations. We touched on the things the devil does basically to divert attention away from the prayer of the church into his theatrics. But the reality is in an exorcism, the focus is always on the power of God and not what the devil is trying to do to disrupt that prayer of the church. And so again, it's the very common aspects of our faith, the sacramental life of the church.

Go to confession, you know. You know, sometimes people will say, well, you know, I feel bad if I go to confession. I keep confessing the same things. You know, after 32 years of being a priest, I tell people, you know, it's okay to confess the same things. And why? Because it's an indication to God that you're still in the fight. Maybe the battle hasn't been won, but you're still in the fight. To me, the greater danger would be to say, I keep doing the same thing, so I'm not gonna confess it anymore.

James Caldwell (21:21.034)
That mentality means that one is surrendered to the sin. But I think as long as we can still call sin a sin, then we are still giving God an opportunity for him to bestow his grace upon us. I love that. And I think that it's just that sign of humility that we all need to undergo. I think pride is such a powerful, can have such a powerful grip on us. And I know Satan,

loves to use pride and many people just like you mentioned well, you know, they're the great accuser, right? So while you keep you know looking at pornography or whatever and that's something that you keep going like you're not good enough Like why are you even bothering go to confession type of thing when I love how you were that though that it shows God that You are trying and something that you clearly are struggling with but you're not giving up hope and I think that's when we Maybe can't will give into that

the demons or the demonic is when we lose that hope. And it's like, well, maybe I am worthless. Maybe God doesn't really love me. And you know, probably what every Catholic should know, what's distinctive about Christianity? Christianity is not about our search for God. It's about God's search for us. So it's not that we're looking for God, but God is looking for us. You think again about Adam and Eve. They're cast out of the garden.

into the wilderness. And then God begins to put a plan in place to go in search of lost humanity. It's to send His Son. When Jesus begins His public ministry, right after He's baptized, the Holy Spirit drives Him into the desert, into the wilderness. Why did He go there? In search of lost humanity. But who did He have to contend with first? Satan, the one who caused the fall of

And then he went in search of lost humanity. You look at the public ministry of Jesus. One story after another, Jesus is finding people who are lost. You think of the story of the shepherd with 100 sheep and he loses one. That one represents lost humanity. The woman with 10 coins and loses one. And she searches the house diligently looking for that lost one. That's humanity again. That gives us the idea of

James Caldwell (23:41.494)
just how much God loves humanity, that He will go to great efforts to find anyone who is lost. And even the ministry of exorcism, I think, is about God's search for people who are lost. So again, I think it's really important for Catholics to realize that Christianity, again, is not about our search for God. It's about God's search for us.

Gosh, that's beautiful. Yeah, we all have to forget that, don't we? I think it's, again, it's that humility that we think we have to keep doing something or doing something or, you know, we have to check off all the boxes. But in reality, it's just allowing God to work in us and surrendering over to him. I like to tell people that we're not human doings, we're human beings. We don't have to do anything to gain God's love.

It's just there because God loves us. I had a couple of priest friends who told me one time that they were down in the southern United States on a vacation and they went out one morning for breakfast and ordered bacon and eggs or whatever. And the one priest said that the plate was put down in front of him and he looked at it and there were grits on the plate. And he says to the waitress, what is that? She goes, well, those are grits. And he goes, I didn't order grits.

And she looked at him and said, honey, grits are like God's grace. You don't ask for it. They just come.

James Caldwell (25:16.322)
I'm going to start using that line. I love that. They just come with everything that you order. Oh, that's awesome. Why do you want to, excuse me, I'm going to shift a little bit here. So I know we mentioned a little bit about the sensationalism about kind of what's portrayed in Hollywood and things like that. And, you know, I guess for you and as again, since 2005, what has been something that I guess has

been surprising for you when you're in the midst of these exorcisms. Like I know I was listening to one exorcist and he was saying the power of our blessed mother. It's almost like when she arrives, I know immediately because the demon leaves essentially like they are so they hate Mary so much because she's so holy and so humble that was just so cool for me to hear. So maybe something that has surprised you since you started that maybe you didn't expect going into this.

You know, often times when people think of the fall of Satan, we think of the sin of pride. Many of the great fathers of the church, even like St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, would say that ultimately what the devil could not accept was the incarnation that God would take on human flesh. You know, the human person is created in the image and likeness of God. The angels are not created in the image and likeness of God. So God took on human flesh.

which elevated humanity higher than the angels. Then we look at our Blessed Mother and her plan in salvation when the archangel Gabriel says this is God's plan for you and she says yes. She reverses the no of Eve and in doing so truly becomes the Mother of all the living, living in the true sense of the word, those who have accepted God into their lives. And then our Blessed Mother becomes Queen of Heaven and Queen of the Angels.

And Lucifer could not accept the fact that, again, human flesh would be elevated higher than himself. And it does seem that the angels, when they were created, were able to see this plan of God for humanity. And that's something, the incarnation, which the devil rejected, which is interesting because then in an exorcism, you know, demonic possession, the demon, in his own sense, believes it's his version of the incarnation.

James Caldwell (27:39.074)
that he's taking on human flesh. But what does he do to the human person? He mocks it. He makes the person maybe do bizarre things, the levitation, the eyes rolled back at the head, the growling and snarling. He almost dehumanizes the person as a way to indirectly attack God himself. Because again, when you think about God taking on human form,

It's the glorification of the human person. But a demon possessing a human person distorts the human person almost to an animalistic level. And I think that's what the devil is trying to do. It's indirectly trying to attack and mock God when a demon possesses the human person. So again, all of these manifestations again are meant to instill fear. And I've seen it all over the years. I've seen, I did an exorcism not long ago when

The demon manifested, the person's eyeballs turned green in front of me, their pupils became slanted like a serpent, and then this very deep and authoritative voice comes out telling me, well, you can't get rid of us. We've been here too long and you're not strong enough. And basically also saying, Jesus has no power over us. But again, the devil is the father of lies. You don't pay attention to any of these types of things. It's always important for the exorcist to stay focused.

on the power of God, that God is given to his church and to his ministers. Every exorcist really, the true exorcist in every diocese is the local bishop. He has that authority based on chapter 9 of Luke's Gospel right in verse 1. Jesus sends out the 12 and he gives him authority over all unclean spirits. So those who have apostolic succession have the authority to deal with any demon.

and then a bishop can bestow that authority on any of his priests that he chooses to do so. So it's important for me to operate within the authority of my local bishop. If I just go out there on my own, then I don't have that apostolic authority behind me, I don't have the power and the authority of the church behind me, and ultimately the demons would not have to listen to anything that I would have to say because I'm going up as an individual against a demon.

James Caldwell (30:03.338)
rather than as a representative of the church.

No, that's huge, Father Lambert. I know Father Dom may have talked about that too, that the importance of order and, you know, because Satan loves chaos, he loves creating basically anarchy and, you know, the importance of the patriarchy too. And I know we spoke with Jesse Romero a while back and he was talking about the importance, you know, of the fatherhood, especially as head of the household, head of family, and how important they are too in this spiritual warfare. So basically, you know, Father Dom said,

You know, if the father is doing his job, you know, in terms of the spiritual and prayers and things like that, then you are the line of defense when it comes to demonic activity in relation to your family. So maybe you can touch on that a little bit, the importance of the father figure, because just like you said, if you go outside of your realm, you're doing something that your bishop doesn't allow, then you're pretty much from

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're pretty much powerless if you're doing something that your bishop doesn't approve of you doing. That's exactly true, because again, one cannot believe that by being disobedient to authority, that somehow they're gonna be successful in combating demons. And even the bishop really is kind of like the father figure within a local church and a local diocese. Even think of the priest being called father.

Again, it's that recognition of the role that the priest plays within the family of the church. I've been doing some reading recently just about what the word church means. And it goes back to the Hebrew word, khal, Q-A-H-A-L, which means people of God. The Greek word is ecclesia. The English word is church, which means community. So really, the church is the people of God.

James Caldwell (32:04.542)
and then the bishop and the priest have a role to play within that family of God. I hear a growing trend today of people who, who say that, well, they don't need the church, they don't need religion. It's just Jesus. But I would suggest that we can't have Jesus without religion and without the church. If we do, we have a Jesus of our own making and not Jesus for who he truly is. You think of Peter's profession of faith at Cesar Philippi where he says,

you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus says, well blessed are you, Simon Barajona, because no one has revealed this to you except my Father in heaven. So it's a recognition. It's not what we define, it's how God is defining and for us to come to that knowledge of who God is. But I think there's a danger when we start recreating God in our image rather than recognizing that we are created

in the image and likeness of God. Because if we want to recreate God, then we can justify just about anything that we want.

Yeah. I mean, even just in my own life, I grew up Protestant and converted into Catholicism and I'm starting to go to confession. And confession was painful initially, you know, in a good way. But, you know, because I just remember, you know, we talked about this a little bit earlier, the same thing that kept popping up and the same sin that I struggle with. And I remember thinking when I was younger, it's like, oh, well, it's not that bad, you know, like, okay, so I did it again. But, you know, at least I'm not.

you know, going out murdering people, things like that. I mean, it's so easy for us to justify in our head. I just, I love being Catholic because the church has known this for 2000 plus years. They know human nature better than we know it. And they realize, no, when you go to confession, not only did Jesus order it, but even just practically speaking, you're less likely to do that sin in the future because you're thinking like, well, do I really wanna confess that again?

James Caldwell (34:08.878)
You know, so it's a beautiful sacrament that I think that we just, we need to take advantage more of. Let me say this. I like to tell young people that going to confession is like throwing up. Nobody likes to throw up. But once it's out of your system, you feel so much better. That's 100% true. To me, it's like getting that sin out of your system. Nobody likes to go in there and confess their sins.

But when you're done, boy, you feel so much better.

I love that. It's so true though too because you know, it's funny you say that because when I first went I actually would get nauseous. I have this nice big knot in my stomach and then I would be done and I was like, oh, I feel so much better. This is great. So you're speaking true to my heart there Father Lampert. But I do want to ask, so during an exorcism, it's not going to have to be in an exorcism but maybe even just spiritual direction with somebody.

Are there certain saints that have kind of emerged over your years in this profession that maybe you weren't expecting to kind of maybe be a helpmate for you or maybe you've grown a true devotion to because maybe during an exorcism the Holy Spirit led you to say, hey, St. Joseph, help me here or something like that? You know, part of the ritual of exorcism, an exorcism begins by blessing the person with holy water.

And all of these components of the rite are meant to force the demon to reveal itself. Because demons would prefer to remain hidden. But the rite drags them out into the light of Christ where the battle against them will begin. And demons are so arrogant that after a while they cannot resist because they cannot accept the fact that they're being commanded to do something by a creature that they consider to be inferior to themselves. I even had an exorcist tell me, a colleague of mine, he was doing an exorcism.

James Caldwell (36:10.514)
And finally the demon shouted out, who do you think you are, you stupid monkey, in telling me what to do? So there's that sense of arrogance. So blessing with holy water, and then the litany of the saints. And whenever I pray the litany of saints, I will watch and observe the demon to see which of the saints seem to inflict the greatest pain upon them. And then I will go back and then reinforce the intercession of those saints.

throughout the prayer of exorcism itself. You know, one of my favorite saints to use is St. John Paul II. You know, I was ordained in 1991. I spent my seminary days in the 1980s, St. Minery College in southern Indiana, Munderline Seminary in Chicago. So I would say that I'm a product of Pope John Paul II. You know, right out of college, I even had the opportunity to shake hands with him in St. Peter Square.

So a group of us are traveling through Europe and we happen to be in Rome. We're at a papal audience on a Wednesday morning. Somehow we were in row one. Here comes John Paul II in his Pope Mobile. So I got to shake his hand. And as I'm shaking his hand, I thought, what the heck? And I reached over with my left hand and I lifted his other hand off the bar of the Pope Mobile and I shook them both at the same time. And John Paul II just laughed. So.

It's that smile, that laughter that I think is very powerful in invoking his intercession during an exorcism. Oh, that's beautiful. That is. Do we have, do we have video footage of this Father Lampert? Should we scour the internet? 1991. Father Lampert is... That was 1985. Oh, 85? I think it's in 91. Okay. 1985. Okay. Alright. Yep. Oh.

That's amazing. Well, JP too is near and dear to my heart as well, cause he's my confirmation saint. So, uh, I love that. You may not recognize me in any video because I actually had more hair back then.

James Caldwell (38:21.258)
Oh, that's amazing. Well, I want to shift gears here a little bit. So, you know, we've talked about the demonic, maybe some ways that they can infiltrate our spiritual lives and things like that. But maybe we can talk about more practical tips, especially for men. We talked about confession as well frequently in the sacraments, but just little things that we can do even just today to, I guess, better prepare ourselves for this battle that we know we're all in. But also recognizing that

Satan is relentless, he's the prowling lion roaming about the world seeking the ruin of souls. So how do we combat that? I think men should not be afraid to be men of God. Children will expect their mothers to be spiritual, but when a father chooses to be spiritual, that speaks volumes to children. You don't even have to say anything to them, they just pick up on it.

So when fathers recognize the importance of going to mass, recognize the importance of praying as a family before eating, again praying together at night before going to bed or praying in the morning. So when fathers choose to be godly men, I think it has a profound impact on the lives of children. It just does. So fathers really need to recognize the role that they play.

in helping to instill a relationship with God in the lives of their children. It shouldn't just be something that the mothers are doing. The fathers need to do it as well. You know, I've seen a lot of fathers that maybe at Mass, if they don't sing, their children won't sing. If they don't respond, their children will not respond. But when fathers do these things, the children pick up on it and they say, well, this must be important, so I need to do it too.

Yeah, children are always imitators and they love imitating. They're like sponge. They're picking up everything that's going on, whether it's verbal or non-verbal. And I think they're picking up on what they believe to be important or not. So again, if men recognize that God is important in their lives, then children will say, well, then God needs to be important in my life as well. 100%. I mean, we just spoke about Saint Pope John Paul II. I mean, his

James Caldwell (40:48.338)
His greatest memories he mentioned was seeing how holy his father was, his own dad. You know, he would go home because I know John Paul had a tremendous amount of suffering at a young age, but it was his dad who was the rock for him. But he said he would come home, they would do prayers together. You would see his dad on his knees constantly praying. I mean, what a profound impact had on one of the greatest modern saints that we have.

and I just love, you know, the importance of if men can just be more godly, their children will pick up on that. That's so powerful. You know, when John Paul's mother died, his dad took him to a shrine where they used to pray a lot, and they were praying in front of an image of the blessed mother, and when they were done, John Paul's father said to him, Mary will now be your mother. And that's why

John Paul II had such a devotion to our Blessed Mother, you know, toke this to us. All I have is yours. And then even had the Marian image on his coat of arms. So again, you're right. When fathers choose to not be embarrassed and to have public displays of the importance of faith, children will pick up on that and say, well, God needs to be a priority in my life as well.

James Caldwell (42:16.438)
certain prayers that you recommend for fathers who may be able to pray over their children or to pray over their wives in particular, or I'm not used to prayer in general, but is there anything in particular or practical that you recommend? I think there's a lot of good prayers, you know, thinking of Fathers and St. Joseph, you know, St. Joseph the Terror of Demons. It's a very powerful prayer. I think some of the very basic ones you think of the Hail Mary, the Our Father prayers are very powerful.

the guardian angel prayer that fathers can pray with their children at night before they're going to bed. I think sometimes as Catholics we think that, you know, we have to pray a certain way or with a particular prayer. People should realize too that prayer is a come-as-you-are event. God meets us wherever we're at and you know, just praying out of our own experience, being able to say at the end of the day, well, God, just thank you for this day and for being with me for

giving me my family, whatever it is, just speaking from the heart, because there's no such thing as a bad prayer. You know, if we're talking with God, there's no time that's wasted in talking with God. It's all a beautiful experience.

No, 100%. I must admit I'm a bit guilty of that where it's like a new novena comes up or a new prayer comes up. Like, I'm going to do all these prayers. I'm just going to go down my list. But you know, it's missing the main point of just conversing with God. All he wants is our time. And just to give him a little bit and it's amazing what he can do. And ultimately, what does God want from us? I was going to say ultimately, what does God want from us? What's the one thing that God does not have from us that he desires?

And the answer is our free will. God wants us to unite our will with His will. Where ultimately we can say, you know, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. So it's a matter of whatever God wants is what I will do. It's uniting our free will with the will of God. Satan and these other angels that fell could not unite their free will with God's will.

James Caldwell (44:30.05)
The devil wants us to follow his pattern, but ultimately what God desires is that we unite our free will with his will. So obedience and freedom go hand in hand. Going back to St. John Paul II, he said that freedom in the true sense of the word means to be obedient to God. When we are obedient to God and live in the manner that God calls us to live, that's freedom in the true sense of the word. Then he goes on to say that when we believe that freedom means we can do whatever we want,

then we end up becoming slaves to our own passions and desires. That's where the devil wants us to be. He wants us to be slaves. But God wants us to recognize that we are his children.

100%. I gosh, that is so powerful. And how often we forget that, you know, one speaking of no Venus, I did the I've done the surrender novena a few times. And that is a very powerful, you know, just again, surrendering God, I give everything over to you, I surrender my will over to you, let my will basically be united to yours. And I think how even that can just be your prayer for days as Lord, I surrender it all to you. And I think we

we forget the simple practical things that we can do every day, just to give a little bit to God. And like we mentioned earlier, He'll take it from there. If we just get out of His way, just let Him work. So, final amber for our listeners, maybe who are listening, maybe they are struggling with what they might think is the demonic. I guess what would be some practical things that they can do?

whether it's being in touch with their local priest or reaching out to you or somebody in order to go about distinguishing, hey, is this actually something spiritual or is this just more of a psychological event? I think the number one place to begin is always with one's parish priest. It's like if you get sick, you initially go to your family doctor, then your family doctor may refer you to a specialist.

James Caldwell (46:38.118)
if your doctor believes that there's something more that you need. It's the same way with dealing with demonic activity. You go and talk to your priest. You use what's at his disposal. Again, you go to confession. Maybe you ask for the anointing of the sick. You receive communion. If the priest believes there's something more, then he's the one that could refer the person to the exorcist within the local diocese.

James Caldwell (47:06.338)
that's been designated to deal with these matters, even if they're not officially the exorcist. You know, there's now an exorcism training school in the United States for Catholic priests. There's a place where they can go and be trained to do the ministry. And this year, and it opened back in, I think, 2016, they will have over 300 priests who have graduated from this program. So in the United States, there are more than 300 priests who are now

trained on how to deal with people who believe that they're dealing with extraordinary demonic activity. So there is help out there and granted many of these priests are not publicly known. But again by talking to your local parish priest, that priest could make the referral to the exorcist if he believes that it's deemed necessary and then the person can get the help that they truly need. You know even when it comes to like doing deliverance prayers,

and maybe spiritual warfare prayers. I like to say those things are like a prescription. Maybe you need them for a period of time, but I don't think they need to become a part of anyone's daily prayer routine. You know, you may need them like a prescription 10 days, but then go back to the normal things. Go to mass, pray, read the Bible, celebrate the sacraments. And again, the parish priest is the one who can give people the ongoing pastoral care

guidance and direction that they need. So the parish priest is always the best person to turn to. And granted there may be some priests that say, I'm really uncomfortable in this area, this is kind of out of my realm, and that's okay. But then that priest can refer them to someone who perhaps has more of the affinity to do this type of ministry. Yeah, I was not aware that they had a training school.

I guess it's almost like a catch-22 where it's good that there's the help out there, but it's bad that the church thought there was a need to train more because maybe they've noticed, like you mentioned, a rise in the demonic activity. I mean, ideally, you'd be getting zero of these emails every week. That's why I like to network. I say that I'm trying to put myself out of business. But the reality is, I think the training school and more exorcists...

James Caldwell (49:28.798)
is a way of letting people know that the church is listening. You know, faith is in decline in our country. It's in decline in the world. I read a stat recently that said in 1999, 70% of Americans attended some house of worship every week. Now it's 47%. Oh my gosh. And one out of five of every Americans, 20% now say they're an atheist. So faith is in decline. And I like to say,

I don't believe the devil has upped his activity in the world today. I just think that more people are willing to play the devil's game simply because they have walked away from God. And ultimately I see exorcism as a form of evangelization. The focus is really on God and not on the devil, realizing that if God has his rightful place in our lives, the devil is nothing to fear whatsoever.

Amen. Well, Father Lampert, I know you have an appointment to get to soon, but as we wrap up, maybe if you don't mind telling our audience where they can learn more about you, where they can find you, maybe reach out. I know you have a book as well. I wanted to mention that. Maybe you can see our audience in that direction. I'll put a link in the show notes for you all as well. Yeah, I did a talk at St. Louis University a number of years ago. And the priest there

Where in the world would I ever find time to write a book as a parish priest? And when COVID-19 hit, I found the time. So I use that as an opportunity. It's put out by Emmaus Road Publishing out of Steubenville, Ohio is called, uh, exorcism, the battle against Satan and his demons. And it's basically, it's an easy read. It's a paperback book and it just gives people a basic glimpse into the ministry that I do.

and some basic principles that all of us should understand about the reality of evil. I give lots of talks, so if you throw my name on the internet, there's going to be a lot of information that comes up. Again, it's not about me. It's really about educating people about what God wants to do in their life. Perfect. Thank you again, Father Lampert, for your time. We're going to have to have you on again so we can just talk about John Paul II the whole time.

James Caldwell (51:48.783)
I didn't know you had such a strong connection with him. So that's beautiful to hear. Well, before we let you go, Father Lampert, would you mind giving us a final blessing? May Almighty God send his blessing upon all of you now in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Thank you so much, Father Lampert. Really appreciate your time and what you do. That's strange. You're welcome. God bless you. God bless you all. Thank you all for tuning in for another episode. So go out there.