Chapter 6: Trust is Earned

Gabriel knows much work with great effort is going to be needed to set Molly free of the demonic presence that has been bonded to her. He also knows he will not rest until Molly understands that the sin is not hers and that she has everything inside of her she needs to live righteous in the Father’s eyes and to walk the path our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has laid out for us. In other words: she has everything inside of her to battle and defeat the demonic on her own. First she needs to come to believe that and second to learn the wonders and abilities our Lord and Savior left us to do and carry on.

And the seventy-two returned with joy, saying: Lord, the demons also are subject to us in thy name. And He said to them: I saw Satan like lightning falling from heaven. Behold, I have given you power to tread upon all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. But yet rejoice not in this; but rejoice in this, that your names are written in heaven.

“What was that?”

“That, young lady, was scripture I barrowed from the Roman Rituals book that contains the exorcism rite, though I don’t know which Bible they used, I know the scripture is from Luke 10: 17-20.”

“Oh.”

“Look, babygirl, the trick or truth is to get you to not just believe but know assuredly that your name is written in heaven.”

“What is that?”

“It means you are a good person who lives with obedience and destined for greatness and love.” That makes Molly go dreamy-eyed.

But as the day starts to come to a close and darkness starts to descend upon the world Gabriel also knows the strongest weapon he is going to have for the coming battles is the heart of a little girl and the best way for that to flourish is for a little girl to know she is loved and accepted and most of all that she is safe.

“Molly, would you like to pick out the family movie for us to watch tonight?”

“Really?”

“Yep! Right there in the top drawer of the filing cabinet are all the family movies. Kate, would you like to...” Gabriel looks over at the other side of his bed and finds Kate fast asleep. He smiles and knows what it is to come off a very long and dark road. He lets her sleep.

Molly looks over and smiles. Gabriel puts his fingers to his lips for them to be quiet and molly nods her head yes. As Molly is seeking to find a movie to watch, Gabriel is relaxing and letting his ability of discernment of spirits reach out. He feels a shadow nearby, but more disconcerting is he senses it growing: which usually means more demons are showing up or it is getting madder.

Gabriel gets up gently as not to wake Kate and makes his way around the bed and Molly to get to his book shelf. He grabs a host of books and binders so this night might be a relatively peaceful one. First and foremost Gabriel grabs his Bible: of which his favorite is The New Jerusalem Bible; then he grabs his binder on his group Saint Michael’s Battle in the Spirit Prayer Group; and as he is standing there contemplating what other books to grab he reaches out and picks up the Roman Rituals book and a book titled Manual for Spiritual Warfare.

Still standing there he opens the Manual for Spiritual Warfare book and comes to the contents page. It reads: Part One: Preparing for Battle. 1. Know Your Enemy. 2. Know Your Battle. 3. Know Your Commanders and Comrades. Gabriel knows that his ultimate commanders are Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the Archangel Michael: whose principle task it is to battle his fallen kin. Gabriel hopes he knows Jesus, but he is also smart enough to know that a finite mind cannot fully comprehend an infinite one. He walks over and sits down. 4. Know Your Weapons. Gabriel smiles because he knows his greatest weapons are love, hope and faith. 5. Know Your Armor. 6. Keep Your Enemy out of the Camp. Gabriel nods his acknowledgment to this because he knows firsthand you can be in the most sanctified place on earth and if a person comes with evil in his heart the demonic can break past the grace. That is why Saint Paul warned against letting sinners and false teachers stay around the community.

Just then the front door bangs open and crashes mightily into the wall knocking a picture down. The loud noise wakes Kate and Molly jumps and with movie in hand flies into Gabriel’s lap.

Gabriel sets Molly aside and grabs his cross and holy water and goes out into the living room. His brother Tom is already there picking up the picture.

“Wow that must have been a strong gust of wind.”

“Actually, it is possible it was a demon.”

“Don’t tell me that!”

“I have some people here who will be staying for a few days and they are under heavy demonic attack.”

“Well, get them out of here!”

“Oh, what’s wrong can’t run to Canada. Jesus said ‘you are either with me or against me.’ Not accepting His Word and not glorifying the Father means you serve the other camp, even if you are a seemingly good person. Narrow is the way.”

“Oh, bullshit it was just the wind.”

“Denying their existence does nothing other than to give them easily won victories. But you go ahead and side with them; it will make no difference in the end.”

“I’m not siding with them.”

“Aren’t you?”

Tom gets an angry look on his face and turns around and stomps back off to his bedroom.

Gabriel chuckles and turns to see Molly and Kate standing by his bedroom door watching it all. Gabriel looks down at Molly’s hand and sees the movie she has chosen for them to watch their first night together.

“So, young lady, what movie did you choose for us?”

Molly looks down at her hand and for the first time realizes she is still clutching the movie. “Oh, uh, Samantha: An American Girl Holiday.”

“Wonderful, that is a good movie. Have you ever seen it before?”

With big eyes Molly shakes her head no slowly. Gabriel kneels down in front of Molly and says, “Hey, don’t you worry about those little petty tricks. The demons were here before you got here and they will remain until I leave this plain to fight on the other side. Remember I told you, ‘things are going to get worse before they get better’.” Molly nods. “As I was telling my brother, just because you deny them doesn’t mean they aren’t going to attack you anyway. In fact, it is the main reason I battle the fallen as one of my ministries, because I know they were always working to keep me from coming to the graces of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. They tried and succeeded on occasions unfortunately to effect my actions, now it is payback time.”

“What did they do?”

As Gabriel is ushering Kate and Molly back into the bedroom he says, “We’ll get into that later.” Gabriel hugs Kate as he more sensed her fear than saw her shaking, but of all the gifts love is the most powerful.

Kate takes her place back on the far side of the bed, but a little closer this time and Molly is once again in Gabriel’s lap. Just then a bird flies into the bedroom window. Kate and Molly turn to it, but Gabriel ignores it completely. It happens a lot at his house too.