Father Jeffrey Steffon is an expert on Satanism and the occult. He has worked counseling victims of satanic ritual abuse and is a popular conference speaker. In his book entitled "Satanism: Is it real?," Fr. Steffon, addressing the popularity of the New Age movement, says that the movement is not new, but is a revival of paganism. He writes, "This revival includes the resurgence of goddess worship. Through ritual, celebration, and myth, NAM and neo-pagans attempt to reharmonize themselves with the Whole or the One, which many groups refer to as the goddess. Neo-pagans believe that patriarchal religions are responsible for the exploitation of women and nature. They believe that people must move beyond God the Father and be nurtured by the goddess within. The real issue in worship of a goddess is the transcendence of God. It appears established that the Father image lends itself more readily to the dimension of transcendence, the maternal more to immanence. Maternal images bespeak closeness, connectedness to the earth and creation, and thus more easily lend themselves to pantheism. While pantheism proclaims an immanence without transcendence, the Judeo-Christian worldview holds to an immanence that presupposes transcendence, and this is expressed and preserved in various ways in the tradition, one of which is the Fatherhood of God, enriched but not replaced by maternal images of closeness. The father image, of course, runs the risk of overemphasizing the distance between God and his people; but the prophets preferred to overcome this danger by incorporating maternal imagery into the father title than to run the risk of identifying Israel's God with the process of nature by using a maternal title. Jesus himself sought to express and convey the intimacy of God within the tradition of God's fatherhood. New Agers value 'unity in diversity,' but the ground for this unity is pantheism. In New Age thought so-called traditional Christianity is blocking the evolution of the human race, threatening the global unity necessary for racial survival. In a New Age world there would be no tolerance for true Christianity." (pp. 97-98).
Fr. Steffon rightly insists that, "Followers of New Age philosophy do not believe in the God of the Bible. They believe God is an impersonal energy force. Both Judaism and Christianity reject this essentially Hindu concept and affirm an unshakable monotheism - a personal, benevolent, and loving Deity who is immanent within his creation and yet transcends it by infinity because he is its Creator. 'So we know and believe the love God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him' (1 John 4: 16)....New Agers will admit that Jesus Christ is God, but he is no more God than anyone else. The difference between Jesus and other people is that Jesus realized and demonstrated the divine (Christ)potential that everyone has. For New Agers the 'Christ' is a divine principle, a 'Christ consciousness' attainable by all people." (P. 93).
This New Age philosophy has made significant inroads into the Diocese of Worcester, Massachusetts. This Blog has documented the New Age occultism and relativism promoted by the diocese's "Commission for Women." And the diocesan newspaper has done its part to promote New Age spirituality and New Age advocates over the years. Currently, The Catholic Free Press is promoting New Age advocate Joyce Rupp, a Servite sister who has been promoting the demonic for some time.
For many years, the Worcester Diocese has been plagued by evil spirits of occultism, dissent [disobedience] and illicit or unnatural sex. And there needs to be repentance. There needs to be a renunciation of occultism, a renunciation of disobedience or dissent, and a renunciation of illicit or unnatural sex. You see, a demonic spirit [or spirits] can attach itself to a person through involvement in the occult, through hardened disobedience to Christ, Who teaches us through His Church, or from a repeated sinful action or sinful tendencies. But the good news is that prayer and repentance can bring freedom the oppression of Satan. It is necessary though to close the doors which are open to demonic oppression.
The Worcester Diocese has succumbed to darkness and negativity. But the Good News is Jesus, Who became man to free us from demonic influence. Roughly one quarter of all Jesus' miracles involved the casting out of demons. Jesus is our Savior Who came to free us from evil: "The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work" (1 John 3: 8).
Can the Diocese of Worcester truly claim to be "accepting abundance" while opening the doors to demonic oppression?
Let us pray:
Spirit of our God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Most Holy Trinity, descend upon me. Please purify me, mold me, fill me with yourself, and use me. Banish all the forces of evil from me; destroy them, vanquish them so that I can be healthy and do good deeds.
Banish from me all spells, witchcraft, black magic, demonic assignments, malefice, maledictions and the evil eye; diabolic infestations, oppressions, possessions; all that is evil and sinful; jealousy, treachery, envy; all physical, psychological, moral, spiritual and diabolical ailments; as well as all enticing spirits, deaf, dumb, blind, mute and sleeping spirits, new-age spirits, occult spirits, religious spirits, antichrist spirits, and any other spirits of death and darkness.
I command and bid all the powers who molest me—by the power of God Almighty, in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior—to leave me forever, and to be consigned into the everlasting lake of fire, that they may never again touch me or any other creature in the entire world. Amen.
Recommended reading: Catechism of the Catholic Church, 394, 407.
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