From Forums of the Virgin Mary:

The tests made by exorcists, mystics and seers.

Communication between the afterlife and earth exists.

God allows saints, angels, and souls from purgatory to visit earth and appear to some human beings on a mission.

But demons also appear and try to deceive us, sometimes taking the form of human beings or holy figures.

There is a huge body of evidence through the centuries for these two things.

And exorcists, who work more in the supernatural field, are used to dealing with sent from heaven and demons, and they know how to differentiate one from another through the tests they do.

Here we will talk about the experience of exorcists and mystics in differentiating an appearance from a holy figure, when it is a deception of the evil one, we will tell you very significant cases of deception of the evil one disguising himself and we will tell you the tests that must be carried out to be sure of who is who.

Demons are cunning and have the wisdom of the ages at their disposal.

They draw on their vast knowledge of what works and what doesn’t to turn us away from God and into hell.

And they disguise themselves as human spirits to hide their true identity and appear harmless or benign, or as holy figures.

But keep one thing in mind.

Evil beings are always present, visibly or invisibly.

For example when no matter how hard you want and try you cannot advance in an area of ​​your life, or when you have constant physical problems, or permanent bad mood and irritation, or incessantly bad thoughts occur to you.

Also when you feel unmotivated or when you doubt the sound Catholic doctrine and mistakes occur to you and even spread them.

They have a very clear strategy.

At first the demons seek to deceive us and lead us away from God through pleasant thoughts and ideas that at first glance seem harmless.

But quickly, once they’ve gained your trust, they begin their faith-demolishing job.

The Scriptures tell us that “Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Cor 11:14).

Even spiritually mature people cannot always distinguish between what is from God and what is from the evil one.

But that is not why we are going to reject any spiritual presence because we would amputate ourselves from the help that heaven sends us

And what is the antidote we have to deception?

First, “Do not trust every spirit, but test spirits to see if they belong to God” (1 Jn 4: 1). 

Ask yourself, do these spirits agree with the truths of faith? What are the fruits of these visions? Are your predictions true?

And secondly, don’t just rely on your own judgment. Rather, he also relies on wise spiritual direction, whose ministry it is to discern.

Let’s look at some cases.

Exorcist Father Stephen Rossetti tells of the case of a pious layman who told him that he had a vision of the Blessed Virgin. 

He was sure it was the Blessed Virgin, because this gifted soul had really seen the Virgin in the past and told him, about this new vision, that she was exactly the same.

But “the Virgin” told him that she would die in a few months, but that turned out to be a lie. He had been deceived.

It also tells of the case of a possessed young man who claimed to have been receiving visions from his guardian angel and various saints, as well as seeing demons attacking him daily. 

The exorcist advised him to ignore these visions, good and bad, until his release.

He refused and said that Jesus himself was leading him, and progress in his exorcism stalled.

For its part, the Philippine Exorcists Office recounted the case of a well-known doctor who had befriended some benign dwarves who appeared to her and who showered her with good luck in the form of financial rewards.

But his problems began when he decided to return to the Catholic Church.

Soon after, demons took over his body for hours, and paranormal activity began to terrorize his family members.

Finally the exorcists made him prayers of deliverance and the demons left.

They also tell the case of a boy who had bruises on his skin and who discovered that he had an imaginary friend named Golok.

When an exorcist went to bless the house, he asked the child to say, “I love you, Jesus!” But the child said, “I don’t like to say I love you, Jesus!”

In the end he agreed but also said “I love you Golok.”

When the exorcists went to perform a mass in the house together with lay people gifted to perceive demons, the boy said goodbye to Golok because he says he was gone.

And finally they had to do the full exorcism ritual in the house and they asked the boy where Golok was, and the boy replied that he was gone and would not return again.

There is also the case of “Uncle Ponto” told by the exorcist Father Malachi Martin.

Uncle Ponto began to appear to a young man from California named Jamsie during a difficult period in his teens.

She accompanied him everywhere, and held him down, telling him that he needed a friend.

She appeared and disappeared, and Jamsie enjoyed her company because of her loneliness.

But little by little Uncle Ponto became more dominant and began to become a nuisance.

Then the young man spoke with a priest in the case and he suggested that he say the name of Jesus.

Jamsie was hesitant because he was afraid of losing his friend.

But one day, faced with an exaggerated demand from Uncle Ponto, he spat the name of Jesus in his face.

And Ponto screamed. Don’t mention that person’s name in my presence. Don’t mention it! ‘And in the end it disappeared for good.

According to these cases it is necessary to determine the authenticity of the heavenly visitors, before it is too late.

In several Marian apparitions, for example Garabandal, Medjugorje, Dechtice (Diéjtitse), the seers have told that they sprinkled the apparition of the Virgin with holy water , because the demons in the exorcisms say that it burns them and they leave immediately.

Because of this test and its fruits, they know that a demon does not appear to them. And this is reaffirmed by the investigative commissions formed by the dioceses.

And the extraordinary mystic Saint Gemma Galgani used a very simple, but very effective way.

She was forced to do this because from the beginning demons often tried to appear as angels, and even as Jesus, in an attempt to deceive her.

On one occasion, a demon even appeared to her as her priest-confessor whom Gemma had known since childhood.

And he appeared to her in such authentic form that Gemma didn’t realize he was actually a demon, until after talking to him for a while.

 When an apparent heavenly spirit appears, Gemma proposes that one should immediately say: “Blessed be Jesus and Mary!”

If the spirit is sent with God’s permission, it will always reply back with the same exclamation “Blessed are Jesus and Mary!”

However, if the spirit is not from God and does not come from good, it will not respond to the exclamation, or will simply say “Blessed are they!” Without repeating their names.

The simple reason is that demons can never pronounce the holy names of Jesus and Mary with devotion.

And what, then, are the conclusions that we can draw from all this ?

That our enemy is powerful and should not be taken lightly.

And that he does everything possible to deceive us and can even appear in the guise of holy figures.

However, God is infinitely greater in power than Satan and his minions can ever hope to be.

And he has endowed us with some tests to determine whether the apparitions or visions that we may have come from heaven or not.

The first thing is to see if that apparition fills you with peace and love, or leaves you nervous.

Also analyze its fruits, if what it transmits is in line with sound doctrine and if its predictions are correct.

And also ask her to repeat the name of Jesus and Mary and sprinkle her with holy water. 

Well, so far what we wanted to tell you about the demons that appear disguised as holy figures and how to distinguish them.

It is not proper to consider that all the appearances and visions that we might eventually have are demons.

This is an absurd and spiritually damaging position of Protestants and some traditionalist Catholics.

We should not deprive ourselves out of fear or prejudice from having contact with heavenly envoys or souls from purgatory, which exist.

But we should be cautious.

That they take the initiative to communicate, not us look for them, and then do the tests that we indicate here.

And I would like to ask you if you know of anyone who has had any kind of apparitions.