My book, Diary of An American Exorcist, is out, and surprisingly one of the most talked-about items is demons texting. This encouraged me to dive more deeply into demonic texts we have received and to look for any insights or patterns that might help us understand their behavior.

We have had three cases in which demons have texted the team and/or the family of the possessed person.* Two of these cases were the most difficult cases we have had so far, and the third involved a pious family with priestly and religious vocations among the children. So, all were “high value” targets with high-ranking, powerful demons involved. This suggests that it takes considerable spiritual “energy” to cross over and manipulate such items in the physical world, and thus this action “costs” them a lot.

Demons are not God and are not all-powerful. Their abilities are limited and they focus their finite energy according to Satan’s plan. Yes, he does have a plan, but it is doomed to fail. All evil is inherently self-defeating and self-destructive.

Below is a small sample of the verbatim texts we received in these cases, minus some of the particularly vile and unrepeatable demonic comments.

Case 1 Demonic texts Received by Possessed Young Woman’s Priest-spiritual Director:

“Her torments start now, priest…all night. While you and that friend of yours [Msgr. Rossetti] sleep…We will make her bleed. We’re glad she’s away from you now.”

“Be ready. We’re coming for you and the girl.”

[Priest texts back: “Be gone in the name of Jesus!]

“Stop. She’ll die.” …

“Kill her. Come on priest. Do it. If you don’t, we will. We want her dead.”

[Priest texts back: Vade retro satanas (Get behind me Satan).]

“Stop.” [Priest texts back: “Blood of Jesus splashed on you.”]

“Stop it. We’ll hurt her more.” … “We hate you. Stop leading her.” …

“There is no power in the priesthood.” …

“You are weak, You know there’s nothing you can do to help her. And you’ve

given up. You sleep, she’ll scream.”

[Priest texts back: “You are crushed by Our Lady’s heel. Vade (depart)!”

“Stop. Let us have our fun.”

[Priest responds: “Forbidden, foul fiend!”]

“We’re abusing her. She’s better off dead. Let her go….She can’t handle the sexual and physical abuse.”

[Priest texts: “Leave.”]

“We’re not leaving.”

Case 2 Demonic Texts Received by Mother of Possessed Young Woman:

“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of her.”

“There’s nothing more you can do to help her. You have tried to help her, but you have failed. You have failed at it. There is no more time for helping, only waiting and watching. She is in good hands…you can’t protect her from us.”

“Just so you know it’s going to be interesting … you won’t know when we will come but we will and you just won’t believe it all…let’s have some fun.”

Case 3 Demonic Texts Received by Father of Possessed Young Woman:

“My baby and I are going to have a fun night…[you] should have protected her more.”

“You are going to give up, you are going to get worn down. You’ll lose patience. She’s mine.”

“Say goodbye to your baby soon….You don’t know who I am but I’m coming for your baby.”

“She’s mine.”

[A friend in the room texted the following to the father: “It’s [the demon] talking to her. I heard it. Now it’s laughing….Her phone is down but screen is lighting up.” Comment: The friend audibly heard the demon’s voice in the room and saw the phone typing out a text message with no human touching the keys.]

In these texts, we get a sense of the demonic personality. They are narcissistic, arrogant, and boastful. They constantly denigrate and put us down with demeaning words. They are sadists who describe their torments and tortures of others as “fun.”

But their words and actions are never haphazard. They always have a specific goal. A major goal in these cases was to dissuade and discourage those supporting the possessed.

Their words indirectly tell us of the importance of the support of others. The possessed are buoyed up and helped greatly by their parents and friends. These are important connections which the demons try to break.

Also, these demonic texts inadvertently affirm that the prayers of the priest are effective and there is great power in the priesthood. Demons often tell the priest to “stop” the prayers and threaten retaliation.

All three individuals, by the grace of God, have been liberated. The demons did everything they could to convince the priests and the family to abandon them. But their loved ones did not waiver nor did the love of Christ. Ultimately, Love cast them out.

*I know of at least two other exorcism teams in the USA and abroad that also report receiving demonic texts. It is interesting and affirming that when speaking to exorcists around the globe how similar our experiences….Typically the texts appear to be coming from the phone of the possessed but when the phone is checked, these texts do not appear.

This post was originally published on catholicexorcism.org and is reprinted here with permission.