The Exorcist's Bestiary

“What does that even mean?” the participant asked. They were hardly the first person to ask this question after an expression from the Holy Spirit popped into their head during an exorcism.

For those wanting to learn how to hear or see God’s voice, this is a great scenario to look out for. If you hear a thought or daydream something that doesn’t make sense to you, investigate it a bit further. It may not be from you.

While there are variations with demonic thoughts, visions, and dreams, they are usually:

• Straightforward
• Loud
• Accusing
• What you expect to think
• Demeaning
• Create rotten fruit as a result of belief or action

The Holy Spirit’s thoughts, visions, and dreams are usually:

• Cryptic, mysterious, or parabolic, requiring you to stop, think, and have a conversation with the Holy Spirit for answers
• Quiet, but clear
• Convicting instead of accusatory
• Uplifting, consoling, and empowering
• Not what you’re expecting to hear
• The fresh fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control are created as a result of belief or action
• Sometimes accented by tears and other great emotions

So next time you hear a thought that’s outside of your train of thought and makes no sense, stop and discern what’s going on. Maybe you’re just having a weird moment. Or maybe there’s something more to it.

It’s those same kinds of thoughts we discern through to get demons out in our particular model of exorcism. And when the session is over, we often have an answer to the earlier question of, “What does that even mean?”