Escaping the Snare of Spiritual Pride

The top two protective shields for any Christian (but especially for former New Agers)

I was preparing a shortish post titled “The Zone of No-Time” recounting a conversation with God I had during silent prayer time at a recent OCDS meeting. But then I decided not to post it after all.

Why?

Because the danger of spiritual pride is still too great for me.

For everyone emerging from the dangerous depths of New Age spirituality—or wanting to get out and onto safe ground—let me give you this one piece of advice: Your ONLY protections from the traps of the evil one are: 1. a constantly deepening humility, and 2. obedience to Jesus Christ and the Church.

This is all that stands between you and the devil’s grip. Because he will try to drag you back into the pit you just clawed your way out of.

A great example is a case Msgr. Stephen Rossetti, a renowned Catholic exorcist and author of Diary of an American Exorcist blogged about in September.

One of our demonically afflicted people said she had a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary who told her that she would die on the upcoming Marian Feast. I responded directly and quickly, "That was not the BVM! Ignore it."

"No," she insisted, "I know it was Mary. She was beautiful and I felt such a great Marian consolation. I know her."

I reminded the woman of one of our fundamental principles for the possessed: "Assume that all extraordinary spiritual experiences before liberation come from the Evil One." She still didn't believe me.

The Feast came and went. She remained very much alive. Fortunately, she was liberated some months later. Eventually, she learned to be obedient to the process of liberation, which is critical to its success.

It almost always happens to the demonically afflicted, especially if they have somewhat of a spiritual life, that the Evil One will suggest to them that they are spiritually "special." He will mislead them with false visions and locutions. He will ply them with "secret" information. He will try to make them believe that they are numbered among the greatest of saints because of their affliction.

All this is to inflame their spiritual pride. Moreover, it is an attempt to have the possessed person develop a prideful relationship with the demons, albeit disguised as listening to the voice of heaven. By the time the ruse is discovered, if ever, much spiritual damage has been done. Some never discover the ruse and become deeply enmeshed in the demonic world, thinking they are awash with mystical graces.

A warning to the possessed and to those who care for them: "Assume that all extraordinary spiritual experiences during the process of liberation come from the Evil One." There may come a time when God will bestow true mystical graces upon the person, but these can wait until after liberation. Even then, great skepticism is warranted. The demons would like nothing better than to inflame the person's spiritual pride and return with seven worse spirits (Mt 12:45).

[You can find this post at https://www.catholicexorcism.org/post/exorcist-diary-308-the-false-angel-of-light

Note that while Msgr. Rossetti talks specifically about demon-possessed people here, this warning goes for all current and former New Agers, witches, and other pagans.

Yes, many saints and mystics have had visions, locutions, and miracles happen to them, but it was not something they conjured up or desired. And their writings show that initially, they were often wary and scared of those occurrences because they couldn’t be sure where they were coming from.

Pride disguised as sanctity is such an integral part of the New Age existence: “You are chosen, you are special, you have/can develop god-like powers, you can manifest your own reality.” This kind of magical promise is what makes the New Age so irresistible and so exciting. So it’s understandable that you would seek the same thing once you step into the Christian realm… and you’ll have no problem finding it, just under a different name, like “gifts from the Holy Spirit” or “charismatic gifts.”

Now, I’m not saying that there’s no such thing as gifts from God. There is, but especially as a former New Ager, you’re better off questioning everything you come across. Refuse to give in to pride. This is your protective shield.

If you suddenly receive “prophetic words,” don’t put too much stock into them. If you are able to hear the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit, that’s great, but discern, discern, discern: Is what you hear in alignment with the Bible, with official Catholic Church teaching? And don’t try to make a career out of conveying messages from Jesus to the world, like the New Age channelers do. Keep things under wraps and defy the devil that way.

Remember, Pride is your enemy, and the Enemy knows it’s your weakness and will use it against you. The only counter-force is humility and complete obedience to God’s will (obviously, to achieve both is a long-term, ongoing process and not some five-minute chore).

Assume that you are the lowliest person of everyone you know. Assume that you aren’t better than anyone else, and if you meet someone who is in worse shape than you, assume that this is just an accident and that, given their circumstances and background, you’d be worse than they are.

Become comfortable with the thought that you come from nothing, that you have nothing outside of God’s gifts, that you are nothing without God, and that you can do nothing without God.

I recently postulated this to a few fellow parishioners and got horrified responses, as in, “But that’s not true! We are beloved children of God; we have great value in His eyes!”

Well, yes. But that and the above-mentioned statement can both be true at the same time. God loves us not because we’re so good, but because He is so good. We have done nothing to earn or to deserve His love, and even our most valiant efforts at holiness are the equivalent of the colored stick figures that Mom puts on the fridge—not because they’re great art but because she loves us and appreciates our attempts to please her. All of our skills and talents are gifts from God. All our possessions are gifts from God. Even our prayer life and faith are gifts from God. Everything is a gift from God. Suck it up, buttercup… you are no big fish in this pond.

The same goes for obedience (one of my own greatest Achilles heels). It is the only thing that the devil cannot fake. He can pretend to be charitable or humble, but he can’t pretend to be obedient. Disobedience made him fall from grace, so complete obedience to the Church—no matter what you think of the pope or certain Church teachings—is our second protective shield.

The great Saints like St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila, who both received multiple gifts from God, advise us to avoid paying too much attention to our mystical experiences. On the one hand because we know that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. (2 Corinthians 11:14) And on the other because even if these signs and messages are truly from God, the ensuing spiritual pride can still lead to our downfall.

St. John of the Cross kept repeating that the most important things are the three theological virtues of faith, hope, and love. He says we should not ask for or desire visions, locutions, and revelations.

Here’s St. Teresa of Avila:

I will only warn you that, when you learn or hear that God is granting souls these graces, you must never beg or desire Him to lead you by this road. Even if you think it is a very good one... there are certain reasons why such a course is not wise.

Her reasons, as detailed on the EWTN website:

1. Such a desire shows a lack of humility.

2. We leave ourselves open to “great peril because the devil has only to see a door left a bit ajar to enter”

3. Danger of auto-suggestion: “When a person has a great desire for something, he convinces himself that he is seeing or hearing what he desires.”

4. It’s prideful for us to want to choose our own path, as only God knows which path is best for us.

5. Very heavy trials usually go with these favors: Could we be sure of being able to bear them?

6. “You may well find that the very thing from which you had expected gain will bring you loss.”

According to EWTN:

She then adds that there are also other reasons, and continues with some wholesome advice that one can become very holy without this sort of thing: “There are many holy people who have never known what it is to receive a favor of this sort, and there are others who receive such favors even though they are not holy.”

We think of the frightening words of Our Lord in Mt. 7.22-23. Speaking of the last day, He said: “Many will say to me on that day: ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out devils in your name, and work many miracles in your name?’ And then I will tell them: ‘I never knew you. Depart from me you workers of iniquity.’”

St. Teresa adds: “It is true that to have these favors must be a very great help towards attaining a high degree of perfection in the virtues; but one who has attained the virtues at the cost of his own work has earned much more merit.”

St. John of the Cross is very hard on visions and revelations. He tells us if a vision comes, we shouldn’t accept it immediately but instead hold off and consider its authenticity only if it comes again. His reason: Faith holds on without seeing proof, and those who want visions want to see, not to believe without seeing.

I strongly encourage you to read the full EWTN article, particularly the part about the “Principles for Discernment of Spirits,” on their website.

God bless you!