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Do you worry that when people who have responsibility problems read about possession they will start blaming the Devil for their own irresponsible behavior?

Somebody through pure carelessness might think, "Peck says that the Devil is real and therefore the Devil made me do it," without reading the book or knowing anything more. But I don't feel I can be responsible for people using my work sloppily or inaccurately.

The key issue, and what attracted me to Malachi Martin's work on possession, was that he said that his cases became possessed for a reason: People cooperate in their own possession, and that means that they have a considerable degree of responsibility for it.

Shortly after People of the Lie was published, I was contacted by a lawyer from Chicago about a client he had who was guilty of murder and who he thought might be possessed. He asked if I would come out to Chicago at top dollar and interview his client to find out whether he was possessed. I said I would be happy to do that, but that he ought to realize that even if I found the patient was possessed, that wouldn't make him not guilty of the murder. This element of cooperation means that he would still have responsibility for being possessed. As soon as I told that lawyer that I wouldn't be able to testify that his client had no responsibility because he was possessed, he was no longer interested.

If a person has to cooperate to become possessed, what is the role of that person in the exorcism? What degree of will is involved, and how does that compare to the role of the exorcist and the role of Christ in exorcism?

There are four exorcists. The most important, the one that determines whether exorcism succeeds or not, is the patient himself or herself. Their choice is crucial in the expulsion. The second most important exorcist in the room is Christ or God. Third is the team. I don't think it can be done without a community. The exorcist, although essential, is the least important element. This is why I delighted to find out that in the Middle Ages exorcists used to be referred to as a minor order, that their role was really less important than that of parish priest.

And then the role of the exorcist of himself or herself?

Well I don't want to denigrate it. It can be tremendous. There's a lot of work involved in getting a team together and seeing that things are done right. And there are sacrifices the exorcist must make. And as I said in People of the Lie, it can be a heroic role. But the number one hero is the patient. There's just no doubt about that.

How does the possessed person's will get strengthened to the point where the person can exercise that will?

In ordinary psychotherapy, we talk about the "therapeutic alliance." With the therapist as an ally, the patient can become strong enough to be able to look at things in himself or herself or deal with things that he or she ordinarily would not be able to deal with.

In my experience, an exorcism is a paradoxical affair. On the one hand, six or seven people are ganging up on one. But on the other hand, it's six or seven people who are allied with that part of the person that wants to be free, that wants the truth. You've got a lot of power allied with the patient's motivation for freedom and truth.

So you're suggesting that something like the therapeutic alliance is formed with the team, with the exorcist, and with God.

Yes, very, very definitively.

Where should we focus our greatest fear of evil, on the Devil or on the evil in human hearts?

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January (Web-only) 2005, Vol. 49