From Slaying Dragons by Charles Fraune
- “Anything but God.” Whereas the guiding principle of the saints is “Let all be lost, provided God is not lost” (St. Alphonsus), the guiding principle of the demons is the reverse: “Anything but God.” Fr. Amorth says that, once the demons fell, they “radically changed their mission” in our regard. Fuelled by pride, they are now focused, with their keen intellects, on the “unique objective of destroying men and making them their companions in misfortune” (25). To combat this, we must keep our on focus on God, and the demons will leave us alone.
- “Anything but moderation.” Whereas virtue is the mean between the extremes, the demonic drives people to extreme behaviours. For those in sin, over-indulgence of a good is the demonic goal. For those pursuing goal, total abstinence of a good is the demonic goal (ie. demons do not want us to enjoy anything, whereas God receives glory when we enjoy the things He has made).
- “Divide and conquer.“ As Fr. Amorth says, “Wars and the division of souls are unequivocal signs of the presence of the devil, which, not by chance, in Greek means ‘divider’.” (13). Demons are predators, prowling around looking for the weakest and easiest prey – the spiritually wounded (120). The family is a special target for the demons, and the father in particular (91). Fuelled by vengeance and possessiveness, the ultimate goal of the demonic is to conquer us in a state of sin so they can pour out their wrath on us forever in hell.
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