There has been a boom in the Catholic Church performing exorcisms. Recently, they are even trying to exorcise entire nations of demons.
What this indicates to me is that the ideas behind psychology are being questioned by much of the world and that people are starting to realize that sometimes there’s just evil and nothing else. What I mean by this is that maybe it’s not a mental illness, but a spiritual one and more and more people are seeing this.
I am personally a psychology skeptic. The fact remains that scientists have yet to properly diagnose mental illnesses via brain scans. The brain is a complex organ and not even identical twin brains are alike. They are shaped by our experiences and memories we build in the literal sense and so there has yet to be a replicable scientific study which tells us exactly what causes a mental illness of some kind.
It seems that after a century of enlightened procedures such as electrical torture and brain cutting in order to fix people, many folks are starting to think maybe it is demons after all. If you read through the Gospels when Jesus casts demons out of people, it is clear that demons are responsible for many inflictions ranging from epilepsy to outright control of a person.
This is not to say that all mental illnesses or birth defects are demonic. But there are definitely demonic influences behind much of the suffering of this world. Remember, Satan is the king of this world. He solidified it in a coup d'état in the Garden of Eden when he convinced Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit. And his kingdom is united against all of God’s followers.
To be a Christian is to be a rebel against the authorities of this world. And for Catholic Exorcists to engage in their practice more and more indicates that there is now open rebellion against the forces of the world.
Plus, it is cheaper to have an exorcist come and perform a ritual than going to see a therapist or psychologist. At worse, both would have dubious results.
The point of all this is that evil is real, it controls the world, it is behind much of the suffering here on Earth, and it is in open rebellion to God. No scientific discipline, soft or otherwise, can really explain it because evil forces aren’t rational and do not adhere to static natures which can be measured and tracked.
I applaud these men who stand against the forces of evil directly. Even if they are just chasing windmills, at least they are trying something.