Equipping the faithful for spiritual warfare in modern times

Nov 01, 2024

PENANG: A talk on Spiritual Warfare in the Last Days was held at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit on October 12 and 13 in Mandarin and English respectively. The presenter was Agnes Lim, the formator of the Triumph Heart of Mary (THM) Ministry and who is also a case officer of the Deliverance and Exorcism Office (DEO) of the Malacca Johore Diocese.

This topic attracted a crowd of 114 participants in total for the two days; mostly parishioners from the northern region and Kuala Lumpur. They came to learn more about the modern ways the evil spirits are influencing young minds and how we, as parents, guardians and family members, should be equipped with this knowledge. Among them were many members of the THM ministry.

The participants learnt to become aware of the godlessness and lawlessness of this era which was affirmed in Jesus’ prophesy to John in his letter to the seven churches in Rev 1:9 to Rev 3:22. We learned of the many disguises of the evil spirits on social media (online games and movies, handphone apps), music (sound healing) and arts (spiritual dances), literature (self-help books) and through education or institutions that promotes the culture of death and sin.

Agnes explained in depth how the invisible power of darkness is shaping our thoughts and desensitising our human thinking, especially among our vulnerable youth, by seducing them to be lover of self, lover of the world and lover of pleasure. She listed out the various challenges faced by youth, be it academic pressure, workplace competition or the loss of self-worth on social media. Agnes encouraged us to stand firm in faith and to find inner peace and strength.

Her sharing contained many practical suggestions to help us stay firm and vigilant in our faith in modern society. She also introduced combat strategies that would help us stay alert and strengthen our spiritual life. We learnt to put on the full armour of God to defend ourselves from the Evil One’s tactics (Ephesians 6: 10-20). Agnes presented a variety of spiritual methods and prayer methods and encouraged us to practise them to overcome the various spiritual challenges and temptations in our daily lives.

Agnes, in her past five years of experience as a case officer, has seen many cases of how the Evil One is attacking the Church through our youth, because the Church is responsible in shaping the family’s morals and virtues.

At the end of the talk, the THM members promoted they’re Into the Deep Retreat, a three-day two-night stay at St Anne Domus, Minor Basilica of St Anne, Bukit Mertajam, Penang from Nov 22 to Nov 24, and facilitated by Agnes.

The key topics include the introduction to the THM ministry, briefing on the first four chapters of the THM formation, namely Prayer, Silence, Solitude and Penance using contemplative prayer methods taught by St John of the Cross, St Teresa of Avila and St Ignatius of Loyola.

For further enquiries of this retreat, please contact: Dorothy Chew 012-474 9088 or Annie Liew 013-4852743.