That's a running thing in my mind for years. The devil can do math. So It's an incredible lost opportunity when people are being possessed and we dont go and ask them some clever questions.
Out of curiosity, what were the problems with The Number Devil? I remember reading it when I was younger and felt I had a good grasp on how things were presented.
From what I've gathered from Catholic exorcists, demons adopt different personas, and shouldn't be trusted about anything they say. The only questions the exorcist asks are those pertaining to the case, all in the interest of breaking the claim of demons and expelling them, in the name of Christ, the stronger man from the parable. As the Lord says, Satan is a liar and a murderer from the start, and when he lies, he speaks his native tongue. What I'm saying, keeping a database of demons makes little sense.
Even if only spoken of metaphorically, it's good to have people reminded of the existence of the devil. Some corner of their mind, if only momentarily, will ask, "I wonder if he really exists?"
"Polls conducted in recent decades by Gallup and the data firm YouGov suggest that roughly half of Americans believe demonic possession is real. The percentage who believe in the devil is even higher, and in fact has been growing: Gallup polls show that the number rose from 55 percent in 1990 to 70 percent in 2007."
Wow that is scary. Intelligence is in strong decline.
> Infestation, vexation, obsession, I do thousands of those a year. I don't even keep track anymore. The real cases of demonic possession itself, I see maybe one or two or three a year on average.
I won't delve too deeply into this but to say...
Thousands a year is pretty hard to believe already. That's (at minimum) 2,000/yr: or 36k in 18 years. Or...5.5 per day (7days wk) or 7-8/day (5 days/wk). Seems physically impossible.
He's seeing 2-3 floaters a year or about 36-54 floaters in his life, so far. He's also seeing physical manifestations (snake's tongue, etc).
The Vatican clearly does not allow recordings (I remember reading this somewhere a few years back) and, to me, it's because nothing physical (manifestations, floating) is actually happening. Occam's razor: Information clamp-down (Vatican not allowing recordings, outside verification) *usually* only happens for a reason - it hurts a brand.
The Vatican say their numbers are growing. Many 3rd-party newspapers say different. As an atheist, I won't source this.
I'll just say that nothing about the exorcist's claims, his numbers, the lack of transparency... feels right. Nothing. Too many dark patterns.
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