Spiritual warfare is real

Spiritual warfare comes in different forms and comes and goes to different degrees, but for me recently, it took an interesting twist. But I'm not afraid. In fact, I'm glad it happened. Keep reading to learn why...

Let me go back and start with a little explanation... Right after Divine Mercy Sunday the spiritual attacks hit at their worst and continued so that I questioned if it would ever quit.

I had a difficult week battling this latest round. It shortened my temper, caused massive depression, and battered my resistance. It was so bad at times that I would completely surrender to God and find some relief just when I thought I would completely succumb. It's an amazing feeling when God does that. Jesus gives us a respite from the burden, but I was also offering up the suffering as my cross.

God never gives us more than we can handle. It's how we handle things that matter. Lean on Him. When you really can't take the beating any more, give the suffering completely to Jesus. It is incredible to have that faith--He always gives more back to us when we completely trust in Him.

But this attack continued after I'd had some temporary relief. The demons kept trying to make me hate God and give up prayer and going to mass to receive the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist. It was so hard to fight that discouragement they dumped on me.

Then I had the thought to pray the St. Michael* chaplet. I barely started the chaplet and the burden lifted. I finished the full chaplet feeling peace again.

The next day, I had a slip of the tongue that sent me to confession. I also had a couple of little defects, or maybe venial sins at the worst, that I mentioned but had accredited those to the spiritual attack I had been dealing with. No sooner did I say this than my phone rang in the confessional.

It's not supposed to do that. It has never done that. Since I bought my iPhone 16 Pro six months earlier, I set Do Not Disturb to automatically come on at the locations of the churches I attend. It's always worked. In fact, even tonight, the setting was confirmed to be working--I had a call during mass and the phone never rang, just like normal on the DND setting.

Back to the confesion... Puzzled and embarrassed in the confessional, I said to the priest, "I'm sorry. It's supposed to be off." (I meant DND but was too flustered to think clearly and thought only that the ringer should have been off while I was there.) I said this while hurrying to hit the down volume button to silence the phone, but it took more than once. (I found out why later.) I barely looked at the phone. I wanted to finish so others could take advantage of the half hour that's available for weekday confessions at that church. I finished and received what I needed from the priest, thanked him, and left. I checked my phone outside the confessional, and it was on Do Not Disturb, which comes on as far out as the parking lot as soon as I leave my vehicle to walk across the lot (even the far end of the lot) to the church (switching from "Driving", which doesn't allow text or call notifications, to regular DND, which does the same thing when not driving). It has a wide radius.

Later that evening, when I was home after mass, I looked more closely at my phone and realized I had the confirmation that I was right about the spiritual attacks. That's no coincidence, and it tells me why my first press of the volume button didn't immediately stop the ringing. There were two back-to-back calls from the same number with 666 as the prefix. No other spammer has ever done that to me.

No call should have rung my phone at the church. On top of that, add the particular number while I was at the church, of all places, and, most notably, in the confessional AND that it happened as I mentioned feeling that I had been under spiritual attack... Yeah, no. To all the Catholic haters out there, even you have to admit that's suspicious. iPhones don't fail like that.

God can do anything, and this was actually a grace of confirming that what I experienced was true. Demons can affect electronics. Exorcists tell stories of things like this happening. In fact, the producers or directors (I can't remember their role) of Nefarious, had an exorcist perform a location exorcism and blessing before their equipment would work right during filming. Exorcists I listen to have told stories about vulgar texts or calls after sessions, usually from a triple six number.

So, now I have my own story to tell. I'm not afraid. In fact, I'm grateful, because I have evidence and experience and because these struggles strengthen my faith and my prayer life. I'm also grateful, because spiritual attacks are a way of testing us to help us grow in faith and devotion to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As some of my favorite online priests have said, if you're not being tested, that's not necessarily a good thing. Our faith stagnates if it's never tested. Like muscles, it needs resistance to strengthen. I'm grateful God gives me these, so I can grow stronger in my faith.

ps--I blocked the number before taking a screenshot. (A free phone lookup tracked the number to a real person, but I suspect a spammer spoofed it like all the other spam calls I get regularly. Still, the timing is uncanny, as is the fact that it went through when it should not have. There are no coincidences. It is divine providence that things like this happen. God uses whatever He wants to deliver his messages.)

God bless!

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* Note that St. Michael was the archangel tasked by God with sending Satan into hell. The chaplet of St. Michael invokes the nine choirs of angels to help us. St. Michael is one of our greatest allies in heaven.