REGINA: Blessed Bartolo Longo, now on the path to canonization, was raised Catholic; he pulled away from the Church, going as far as to become a Satanic Priest. After hitting rock bottom, however, he turned back to God, even turning his town’s (Pompeii) devotion to the Rosary. What would you say to someone who is involved in the occult and thinks that there's no way to stop, no forgiveness from God, no way back?
ALEX: The question is predicated on a belief in God the way that the Catholic Church, and mainstream Christianity in general understand. The occult does not accept this paradigm, and for that reason simply saying to true occult believer person, "Come back, there's enough forgiveness for you!" is counter-productive as a first step.
REGINA: Why do you say that?
ALEX: For one thing, they reject the God vs. the enemy narrative which we believe. They typically reject the need for forgiveness because to them, they aren't doing anything wrong. Few, if any occult practitioners think, or believe that they are truly doing the work of the devil, of the enemy.
Maybe this is reality for them buried deep in their subconscious, but I certainly had no conscious regard for either God or the enemy when I was practicing that life.
REGINA : So, if they don’t believe they’re doing anything wrong, what can you say?
ALEX: First you have to break the substitute paradigm which the occult presents. I still know at least one person who is a hard polytheist. Said peron believes with all of their being that the God which we worship is just one option on a menu of deities.
Said person has deliberately distanced themselves from God, whom they refer to as Yahweh because to them, Yahweh did not meet their needs. To get that person to return is impossible for me. In fact, they have admitted to me that God is incessant in assuring them that He loves them.
What would I say to that person? There is nothing to say. Instead I let my actions speak. I let my sincerity, and my genuine concern do all the talking.
REGINA: Seems there’s nothing to say.
ALEX: I don't know that there's a series of words that will cause a person to abandon that evil and return. In fact I reject the idea entirely that what good, motivated people need to do is simply convince people that forgiveness is available in the confessional.
Don't get me wrong, I believe with my whole heart and soul that confession is essential, and I've come to cherish that sacrament, but, pursuing this line of conversation, in the terms and the frame of reference I normally see people use, insofar as these conversations are normal is I think counter-productive, and not helpful.
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