The greatest way the devil works is through temptation to commit evil, Father Francois Demine said in a recent interview with Catholic News Agency.

“The most common manifestation of the demonic is temptation, which is much more significant than possession,” Father Dermine said.

“We must not undervalue the significance of temptation. It’s not as spectacular as possession, but it’s far more dangerous [to the soul],” he included.

Father Dermine has been an exorcist for more than 25 years. In his interview with CSA, he shared some interesting facts about the ministry of exorcism.

He warned against thinking that every physical ailment is rooted in the demonic.

Father Dermine explained that most cases are rooted in natural causes.

“When a person comes and asks for a blessing for a specific problem, the first thing an exorcist must ask is, did you see the doctor?” Dermine said.

He also expressed that it’s a mistake to confuse preternatural phenomena like demonic activity with supernatural charisms, which come from God.

“It’s a very important difference,” Dermine said. “We have a human nature and cannot know things without learning through our senses.”

“God created us to operate in a certain way. If you have extra-sensorial perceptions, and things like this, and they are not meant to help or to provoke a spiritual result, then they cannot come from God,” he added.

There is early documentation of exorcisms in the Bible.

Jesus frequently cast out evil spirits and commanded that His early followers did the same.

Jesus’ disciples performed exorcism to show Christ’s power over demons (Luke 10:17) and to prove that the disciples were acting under God’s authority. It also showed the possessed person’s lack of faith (Matthew 17:14-21). It became an important part of the ministry of the disciples.

A number of people in the Gospels and the Book of Acts are also recorded having performed the practice. The disciples did so as part of Christ’s instruction in Matthew 10, Paul in Acts 16, the children of the Pharisees in Luke 11:18-19, and certain exorcists in Acts 19:11-16.

However, Jesus did not instruct everyone to perform these exorcisms. He chose specific people with the power over the evil spirits, and it was not a calling or ability given to everyone.