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Hostage to the Devil: The Possession and Exorcism of Five Contemporary Americans By Malachi Martin ( HarperOne )
Release Date: 1992-10
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List Price: $16.95
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Product Description
One On One With SatanA chilling and highly convincing account of possession and exorcism in modern America, hailed by NBC Radio as "one of the most stirring books on the contemporary scene."
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 Hostage to the Devil
This book is redolent with Fr. Martin's usual superior writing style. It's a difficult read due to the language used during the exorcisms; I can't read too much of it at once. My favorite excerpt was from the chapter entitled "Father Bones and Mister Natch." Read the last two paragraphs on page 170, finishing up on 171. My first thought was "how can a celibate man truly know what motherhood is?" And yet he did. His ability to understand people, to climb into their skins, if you will, was a true gift. With all my heart I wish I had met him while he lived, but thank God his tapes and books live on.
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 Utter nonsense ( sharonlevenson )
To accept the things written about in this book one must first accept the notion that religion,and its participants constitute the core of"good" as opposed to that "other side that is decryed here,"evil"..Malachi Martin may or may not have been an honest man,writing honestly about a subject he truly believed in,but this does not in any way diminish the facts...First let us consider the catholic church,from which Martin emerged,and the institution which Martin feels is best suited to combat that other side..Since Martin's death the catholic church has been shown to have been a hotbed of clerical perversion,with proven charges of pedophilia throughout its ranks..Now this can be dismissed by the church's apologists as being a case by case issue with specific clerics EXCEPT for the fact that the church long knew about this problem and did little about it beyond covering it up..If indeed"evil" can be defined by the action or actions of its participants,then acts such as the habitual abuse of children by"men of God"AND a concerted efforts by those charged with religious oversight to cover these actions up,allowing the abuse to continue,speaks volumes about where"evil" lies,and what individuals and groups are involved with it..Not that the catholic church has only slipped recently..No..from thier utter ruthlessness in eliminating opposing religious groups,to thier use of the "holy inquisition" to the substantial and partly proven charges that they connived with nazis and other similiar thugs before ,during,and even after WW2 revealed what monsters thier"friends" in Germany and Italy had been,the church has a long record of being on the WRONG side of the issue of"good" versus"evil"...Thus the quaint notion that it,or its members are in any position to combat"possession"by"evil entities" is laughable,in that the institution is itself so riddled with the same evils...
Further,we must consider that the catholic church,Malachi Martin's church of choice,is not alone in being habitually on the"wrong" side of this issue..Other christian denominations,and non-christian groups as well have proven themselves to be unequal to the task..Thus it becomes the supreme hypocrisy that these self-serving religious corporations assume that they not only can recognise"evil" but have the spiritual chops to combat it...
How convienent it is,whenever one or another of these religions claim to have"cleaned" some unfortunate individual of a"demon"..in order to do this with any authority such groups need themselves to be"clean",and given the almost continual stream of information indicating thier unworthy status it is clear that they are not...
Let us consider the very notion of"evil" or"unclean" spirits..The mind is a very complex thing,and ,further,it is subject to external persuasion..This is the line used by those who claim that such"spirits" not only exist but make it thier business to "possess" others..and yet,clearly,the mind need not be infused with "evil spirits" to turn towards socially unacceptable behaviour..Consider;the clerics who abused children in the roman catholic church,AND thier protectors in that same church clearly engaged in socially unacceptable behaviour,which begs the question;was the church,its clerics and its administrators"possessed"?..and if so has "exsorcism" only taken place through the purely secular machinations of the court system(remember;the church did all in its power to both hide and deny its role in this activity,while at the same time claiming to represent "God" and supreme"goodness"..it was only through a non-religious,SECULAR legal system that this"evil" was both exposed and,hopefully,erased)so,if the mind is indeed open to suggestions by that"other side" we must at least consider the facts in the pedophile case to arrive at a conclusion,one that suggests that"good" and"evil",far from being the domain of"spirits" are in fact very mortal charecteristics,and that perhaps dwelling on external,fantastical,utterly absurd"demonic" excuses for"evil" no longer makes sense..
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 Christian Beware ( glen-and-selena )
Please do not waste your money on this book. It gives info similar to the book/movie, The Exorcist, even after the author emphasizes that exorcisms are not to be considered entertainment. The details seem gratuitous, and the filth that is documented is not something that Christians need to read. I do not believe that this book gives glory to God, but rather focuses too much on the power of the devil to destroy lives when we open ourselves up to his power. True? Yes. Necessary to meditate upon? Absolutely not.
I only bought this book because it is referenced in Ted Dekker's new novel, Adam, which I also don't recommend (not worth your money--check it out from the library, if you insist on reading it).
The Bible admonishes us to guard our heart, and avoiding this book is one way to do that.
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Disturbing, yet worthwhile
As a skeptic to the phenomena of possession and "believer" in a common Creator of all humanity, I had some reservations about the overly-religious appearance of this book. Rest assured that this book does not flaunt a bible-thumping, "hellfire and damnation" approach, and perhaps feels more disturbing for it. Malachi Martin's narrative of five cases of possession and exorcism reads in a fluent, yet gripping style, leaving the participant to ponder upon questions about the soul in a less superficial way than they might otherwise like. In this respect, the good author has undoubtedly achieved his purpose.
The case studies, covering the breadth of the 20th century, deal with a spectrum of issues, personal conflicts and personality disorders that many people may recognise. Indeed, many cases of "possession" show psychological illness as the cause. Psychopathy - psychobiological evil - may have a role as well. Martin states clearly however, that the nature of possession transcends pure psychology, even parapsychology. He refers to spiritual qualities of conscience, faith, hope, selflessness and love that spring from a divine source; a capacity for "humanness" most perfectly embodied in the historical figure of Jesus Christ. The historical discussion around "Jesus" receives no space in this book - readers will need to separate Martin's assumptions from other research in this regard. Fleeting (and encouraging) references to other teachers such as Buddha and Mohammed do exist however, which indicates a reassuring note of religious tolerance in Martin's writing.
Indeed, one can speculate from the cases that while possession and exorcism interact at a super-causal level, the religion itself may simply act as a "stage" on which the will of the exorcist and exorcee opposes the will of the "demonic" influence. Specific prayers, symbols etc, may have no effect if they do not create a "focus point" for the will of the human entities present. After all, possession and exorcism have a historical existence outside of Judeo-Christian cultures.
Martin also assembles the available information into an interesting "pathology of possession" as well. The causation and progress of possession as it proceeds through various stages, examined and listed in a scientific manner, gives the material an authentic feel which evokes the reader's attention in a sometimes uncomfortable way. One gets the sense that long-held communal beliefs about the nature of good and evil in the world may not hold up under the weight of spiritual reality. After all, how many people do you know that admit the concrete influence of truly, consciously Evil forces amongst us? And if such forces do exist... what responsibility do we have? Where does that leave us?
Such questions have no easy answers, but "Hostage to the Devil" dares to ask them of the reader, and provides persuasive evidence to insist that we do not forget them.
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Made me more repentant for my sins
Praise Jesus!!!! This book seriously made me shiver but I got two very important things out of it: 1.) a new respect for the exorcists who risk their own lives to help the victims of possession; 2.) an urgency to remain in God's grace and avoid sinning as best as I can.
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