Rating: 
Summary: Horrifying yet fascinating.
Review: I read this book b/c I find the material fascinating, albeit horrifying. The topic that is discussed in the book, demonic possession, is something that I find rather interesting. I have read other books, accounts and seen the movies. As a fan of the macabre, I thought I have heard it all. This book totally changed my perception. It makes "The Exorcist" look like Dr. Suess. In fact, I read the first case study, Zio and the Smiler and took it back to the bookstore. What I read was so disgusting, explicit and nauseating that I had trouble falling asleep for 2 days. It reaches into the unimaginable part of the human soul and psyche. The vileness and ugliness of these accounts startles the imagination. This book is definately NOT for the faint of heart, nor the weak in constitution. I find it difficult to believe that one can sustain the type of physical, emotional and spiritual torture that accompanies the possessed. This book will make you reassess your spiritual outlook. It leaves the reader with an utterly claustrophobic feeling and the need to come up for air every now and again. I caution any parent who have children in the house to not leave this book out casually. It may affect a younger or sensitive person adversely. Hideous, sanguinous and wretched, "Hostage to the Devil" will keep the reader entraced and may serve some good....it will make you believe in evil. And when evil is acknowledged, as this book implies, only then can it be conquered.
Rating: 
Summary: A Terrifying, Fascinating Page Turner
Review: Hostage to the Devil makes the world's worst bedtime reading. When you read fiction by a horror master like Stephen King, you can turn out the lights and reassure yourself it's just a work of imagination. You will experience no such relief in reading Malachi Martin's in depth portrayal of real exorcisms. What I read in Hostage to the Devil, left me wide awake long after I set the book down.The stories are not sensationalized, but rather display an interesting combination of story-telling, reportage, and scholarship that make them impossible to dismiss. Although I am not a Catholic, I finished the book believing I'd been exposed to dangerous, but edifying truths about the nature of evil. If you are truly interested in the phenomena of possession and exorcism and are not easily disturbed, then Hostage to the Devil will be well worth your time.
Rating: 
Summary: Why the Catholic Church?
Review: It always amazes me that people give so much credence to "exorcisms" as relating to the Catholic Church. I heard once that the Catholic Church does about one exorcism per year. Whatever the truth there, that is NOTHING in comparison with the amount of deliverances that are done all over the world every day. How do I know? I have performed them myself. Many, and often. Many have been very, very dramatic. If you read the New Testament from cover to cover, you will see that about 1/3 of Jesus' ministry had to do with deliverance. He called deliverance "the children's bread". He also said that if your house is cleaned (of demons), you had better fill it (with the Holy Spirit) or the demons will come back 7x worse. The point is that you have to be a believer...born-again as John 3 says. If you read the gospel accounts (start with John), Jesus gave his "power of attorney" - His Name - for believers to use. It is ONLY the name of Jesus Christ that will make a demon bow the knee. And firstly, a person must forsake sin and forgive others in his life that have hurt him (her). Only then can one be free from the "tormentors". So, pre-deliverance often involves some ministry with individuals and some turning from things as well as healing/forgiveness. I was called once to do a deliverance where the 250 pound young man had demons of rage that sounded like multiple voices talking at the same time. Extremely loud and like the movies! The neighbors called the police because of the noise coming from the house. I had to do deliverance in front of police officers...who were more than happy to leave us with a violent man and get out of dodge--fast! The person who had been trying to do the deliverance had made the mistake to engage in conversation and "quarrel" with the demon. You must confidently take authority over them in the name of Jesus. They hate to have to look in your eyes...if you are born-again you have the Holy Spirit resident in you and your eyes are the window to your soul. I just commanded the demon to look into my eyes, and "Rage" began to back down and turn into a whimpering coward. Demons generally come out on the breath. They like to make a scene, but you can forbid them from doing so. They like to hurt the person, or make them get worn out. If you like dramatics (like some well-known ministers do), then you let that occur. It is NOT necessary, and the demon should be denied any ability to do so. I make them come out on the breath...some come out with burps, coughs, yawns, moans. Occasionally, people will throw up. People even occasionally cry them out in their tears. They are spirits, so they normally come out on the breath. In the past couple of years, I have started to actually acquire the gift/ability to spiritually know where they are at in the body of the person. They will try to hide - or move around. Or come out slowly. People affirm to me that I am correct, or I will see some manifestation that confirms that the demon is doing what I perceived. All believers should understand deliverance and be able to do deliverance. Jesus sent the 70 out in pairs to minister. We should also. Jesus said, "For this reason I came: to destroy the works of the devil." We are to do His works, in His name--as His followers. There are many other good books on the market, much better than this. Try several books by the author of "Pigs in the Parlor". Their book on Curses is excellent. William Schnoeblen was a Satanist, and they encountered the demonic while dabbling in rituals. In his book, he recounts getting scared, and his Satanist wife (who was raised in the Christian church in her youth), blurts out to the demon to GO! IN THE NAME OF JESUS! Even a Satanist can have authority over demons in the NAME above all names. So can the Catholic church. The Catholic priests can be demonized themselves and still cast demons out in others...no glory to them...only the the ONE who conquered, death, sin and the grave...JESUS! He deserves all glory and praise. And when He returns, there will be many who will come to Him and say, "Did we not do many mighty works in your name? Did we not cast out demons in your name?" And He has said in His Word, "Depart from me...you who practice lawlessness. I NEVER KNEW YOU." So, more importantly than casting out demons, is to KNOW HIM and be KNOWN BY HIM. I hope Malachi Martin got rid of all his "Jesuit" demons...I'm sure he has a bunch from just being involved with that bunch. cheriekoch@hotmail.com
Rating:
Summary: The Devil Made Me Do It!
Review: When I'm not busy writing about vampires (Reflections of a Vampire), I sometimes dabble with devils. And so, I came across Martin's "Hostage." Tap into true terror involving the real life interplay between human and diabolical forces. This well written book terrified me so much that I had to think twice about turning off my bedroom light. Malachi offers us five cases of possession complete with vivid details about the on-coming event, the case particulars, and chilling insights as to why the individuals were snared by demons. He also was kind enough to provide the Exocist's Ritual. Just in case! So there you are: a spine-tingling depiction of the desease along with its cure. As the old song goes: who could ask for anything more? If you delight at being frightened out of your wits, read this book now. And DO keep the lights on! I highly recommend Malachi Martin's Hostage to the Devil.
Rating:
Summary: This Staggering Examination of Evil Merits Grave Attention!
Review: Father (Dr.) Malachi Martin's staggering examination of evil--HOSTAGE TO THE DEVIL--merits serious, grave, and immediate attention by the mental health establishment, religious institutions, and for that matter, any person who values spiritual growth, psychological health, salvation, or recognizes the supreme worth of a single, individual soul. Fr. Martin's work--based on the very hellacious experiences of five Exorcists and their demonically-possessed victims--affirms as truth his own encounters with the demonic, as well as those of modern-day health professionals such as the imminent Psychiatrist, Dr. M. Scott Peck (who dedicated an entire chapter to this subject in his ground-breaking, best seller THE PEOPLE OF THE LIE). HOSTAGE TO THE DEVIL paints a vicious, vivid picture of the unmitigated existential dislocation that possession wreaks, in the lives of its victims, as it intensifies in stages--manifesting an attendant array of bizarre, preternatural phenomena that leaves no one in the vicinity of the afflicted unaffected--and completes its dark process of spiritual disintegration in the nefarious nadir of "Perfect Possession." The book also delineates the ever-widening circle of despair and confusion that often encompasses those who must suffer by association with, or close proximity to the demonized, as they come to exhibit increased fluctuation of mood, change of personality, and loss of humanness, in their progressive "take over" by evil spirit. On a macro level, Martin's work sucessfully confirms, sustains, and supplements--with depth of empirical factuality and verifiable accuracy--the universal, timeless, veracity of the Bible's accounts of the Devil and his fallen angels, as personal, intelligent, evil beings bent on man's destruction. It also explores the many twisted forms and faces that their moral, religious, and aesthetic perversions of truth manifest as the lie, and are used to co-opt men into joining them in their continuous rebellion against the Creator. On a micro level, HOSTAGE TO THE DEVIL demonstrates the weaknesses and vulnerabilities within us all--as innate components of our imperfect, carnal, human nature--and how the predatory demons utilize these deficiencies to captilize on the frailties of the flesh, and gain our attention through fascination of the senses. Once they have our attention, they can attempt to fixate our thoughts on the glittering prize of a sinful pleasure. By willfully acting on these thoughts we committ sin. The more we sin, the easier it becomes and the harder it is to do good. Eventually we no longer recognize sin as the transgression it is, or are rendered too lazy or incapable of resisting its allures. The distinction between good and evil blurs until finally, we conclude that evil does not exist because we cannot see it. Actually it is we who become spiritually blind to its reality. We may then concur that we are under no obligation to resist the temptation to sin because their is no such thing: "it's all in the mind." In essence, we are disarmed against the "wickedness and snares of the Devil," and he may gain a toehold...then, perchance, a foothold on our souls. The will to resist evil falls away as a reality because the reality of evil is thought not to exist. But so does the terra firma of our faith, our moral high ground, and eventually, reality itself slips into the abyss...till we haven't a leg to stand on. This is the fertile soil in which evil takes root. Possession is its fruit! Martin demonstrates how the process of possession varies considerably, depending on one's unique personal, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual disposition and/or pre-dispositions, and how the demonic focuses its dark energies on a person's better, positive, personal qualities (gifts as we Christians say) as one of its strategems to approach someone from the good or "light" side and catch him/her unaware. Hence, the demonic often comes as what St. Paul terms "...an Angel of Light." What should be a fully human, healthy and continuous willingness to grow spiritually through virtue and consistent acts of selflessness (known as the "Syndrome of Growth" or Biophilous Personality) is replaced by an evil, alien, anti/unhuman (St. Ignatius calls the Devil "the enemy of human nature") and dynamic, downward transcendence into the utter willfulness of a self-centered-self, and the ensuing moral vacuity of unbridled selfishness (known as the "Syndrome of Decay" or Necrophilous Personality, as Erich Fromm termed it). Such complete, interior desolation is truly a living replication of the Devil's very own suffering caused by his self-imposed exile from truth. It is also a reflection of this once-brightest angel, in his original sin of rebellion --through pride--against the One, True, Living, God. It is professed with his dark and pensive plaint, whose cold cosmic throes of spiritual death unfold--like shockwaves from a stone thrown in a lake reverberate--through the the boundless expanse of the universe, in words of hate: "I will not serve!" One cannot serve (love) one's fellow man or God without accepting his will; hence, the prayer, "Thy will (not my will) be done." In the final analysis, the success of HOSTAGE TO THE DEVIL lies in the hope it offers mankind: that in our brief sojourn here on earth, it is in faith, through Christ, that we are able to freely explore the wide-open airy vistas of our own inner-spirit, and through Grace that we can ultimately transcend time and space--to apprehend the totality of Truth in eternity--and finally, experience the expansive mysteries of God's loving being, forever, face-to-face! The choice is yours, mine, ours: good or evil; God or the Devil... Many thanks to the late Father Malachi Martin for the courage to write HOSTAGE TO THE DEVIL.
Rating:
Summary: Sobering Book on Good and Evil in the World...
Review: I highly recommend this book for those who don't believe that there is a God---Who is merciful and loves them. It is also for those who don't believe in the power of evil (the devil) in the our world. I read this book a while back and have not forgotten the images that were imprinted in my mind. It made me keenly aware of what a priest has to be like in order to carry out his priestly duties as a representative of Christ. It is not a pleasant book to read, but indeed a sobering experience. It gives light to what the true meaning of free-will is and of redemptive love. These exorcisms really happened to those 5 Americans..that is what makes this so impressive reading. This is not a Stephen King novel..yet it reads like one. And you almost wished it was--Instead of something that was recorded as though it was from a crime-scene forenics record...which it could be. Once you have read this book, you will not soon forget it... This book however, is not for the faint hearted. So if you have the courage to read it, then do so..you will not be disappointed in Malachi Martin's book.
Rating:
Summary: Why the Catholic Church?
Review: It always amazes me that people give so much credence to "exorcisms" as relating to the Catholic Church. I heard once that the Catholic Church does about one exorcism per year. Whatever the truth there, that is NOTHING in comparison with the amount of deliverances that are done all over the world every day. How do I know? I have performed them myself. Many, and often. Many have been very, very dramatic. If you read the New Testament from cover to cover, you will see that about 1/3 of Jesus' ministry had to do with deliverance. He called deliverance "the children's bread". He also said that if your house is cleaned (of demons), you had better fill it (with the Holy Spirit) or the demons will come back 7x worse. The point is that you have to be a believer...born-again as John 3 says. If you read the gospel accounts (start with John), Jesus gave his "power of attorney" - His Name - for believers to use. It is ONLY the name of Jesus Christ that will make a demon bow the knee. And firstly, a person must forsake sin and forgive others in his life that have hurt him (her). Only then can one be free from the "tormentors". So, pre-deliverance often involves some ministry with individuals and some turning from things as well as healing/forgiveness. I was called once to do a deliverance where the 250 pound young man had demons of rage that sounded like multiple voices talking at the same time. Extremely loud and like the movies! The neighbors called the police because of the noise coming from the house. I had to do deliverance in front of police officers...who were more than happy to leave us with a violent man and get out of dodge--fast! The person who had been trying to do the deliverance had made the mistake to engage in conversation and "quarrel" with the demon. You must confidently take authority over them in the name of Jesus. They hate to have to look in your eyes...if you are born-again you have the Holy Spirit resident in you and your eyes are the window to your soul. I just commanded the demon to look into my eyes, and "Rage" began to back down and turn into a whimpering coward. Demons generally come out on the breath. They like to make a scene, but you can forbid them from doing so. They like to hurt the person, or make them get worn out. If you like dramatics (like some well-known ministers do), then you let that occur. It is NOT necessary, and the demon should be denied any ability to do so. I make them come out on the breath...some come out with burps, coughs, yawns, moans. Occasionally, people will throw up. People even occasionally cry them out in their tears. They are spirits, so they normally come out on the breath. In the past couple of years, I have started to actually acquire the gift/ability to spiritually know where they are at in the body of the person. They will try to hide - or move around. Or come out slowly. People affirm to me that I am correct, or I will see some manifestation that confirms that the demon is doing what I perceived. All believers should understand deliverance and be able to do deliverance. Jesus sent the 70 out in pairs to minister. We should also. Jesus said, "For this reason I came: to destroy the works of the devil." We are to do His works, in His name--as His followers. There are many other good books on the market, much better than this. Try several books by the author of "Pigs in the Parlor". Their book on Curses is excellent. William Schnoeblen was a Satanist, and they encountered the demonic while dabbling in rituals. In his book, he recounts getting scared, and his Satanist wife (who was raised in the Christian church in her youth), blurts out to the demon to GO! IN THE NAME OF JESUS! Even a Satanist can have authority over demons in the NAME above all names. So can the Catholic church. The Catholic priests can be demonized themselves and still cast demons out in others...no glory to them...only the the ONE who conquered, death, sin and the grave...JESUS! He deserves all glory and praise. And when He returns, there will be many who will come to Him and say, "Did we not do many mighty works in your name? Did we not cast out demons in your name?" And He has said in His Word, "Depart from me...you who practice lawlessness. I NEVER KNEW YOU." So, more importantly than casting out demons, is to KNOW HIM and be KNOWN BY HIM. I hope Malachi Martin got rid of all his "Jesuit" demons...I'm sure he has a bunch from just being involved with that bunch. cheriekoch@hotmail.com
Rating:
Summary: Real-life cases from the '60s and '70s
Review: Martin, an experienced exorcist, presents five full true-life accounts of demonic possession from the 1960s and 1970s. The book is made more interesting by the fact that each case has a different exorcist with his own personality, history, and flaws. (Martin's personal career as an exorcist was primarily in the 1940s and 1950s. He is apparently more of a consultant on such matters now.) Interestingly, a Web site claims to quote from a Martin interview that, in his opinion, "Cases of possession and obsession have increased about 750% since the early 1970's." It is therefore doubly unfortunate that so many skeptical bishops have effectively forbidden the use of exorcism in their jurisdictions.
Rating:
Summary: A CLASSIC, but there is much more...
Review: This is truly a classic book on the subject of exorcism
from the Catholic perspective, but the truth is: Satan, the
Prince of Darkness, is much more subtle than generally
portrayed here. He [It: Evil] is very much active via
demonic elements which find access thru abuse, past pain,
and (especially) WRONG CHOICES in relation to forgiveness,
bitterness, and morality. Satan is also "The Accuser" and
"The Prosecuter" who is always looking for the opportunity
to slander and accuse GOD and His servants.
Dr.Martin's book is an eye-opener to those who never thought
of Evil as being both personal and a real force in the world
to be reckoned with. In the end, you will find that the only
real protection (and greater power) is Love, Faith, and the
atoning, all-powerful Blood of the Crucified Lamb.
"...and they over came him (Satan) by the Blood of the Lamb,
by the word of their testimony, AND THEY LOVED NOT THEIR
OWN LIVES UNTO DEATH." - Revelation 12:11
Rating:
Summary: This a great book for the enlightened mind
Review: This is the closest objective view of demonic possesion I have ever read. It was of great help to me in my study of other demons and possesion. In tantric Buddhism, there are similar phenomenas and if you can get close enough gives you the feel of something preternatural in the air. The manifestations and the kind of otherworldiness that preternaturalism does to natural beings like us is like how a rat may feel when its stuck on tar paper. There is that feeling of something bigger out there and infinitely more powerful than yourself. Dogs and other mammals have enough sense to stay away when they feel such vibes. We as humans do not know any better.
There is that sense that evil and good interweave in our everyday life and we still are clueless to its many guises. As a ex-Catholic, I still see the God-picture but I also that the reality does not fit the idealism. Somewhere along the way many people find evil in their search for the good and end up being taken for a long off-track ride. It is the great curiosity of human beings that has pushed knowledge to what it is today.
Demons seem to have their own order and do not grow smarter or more powerful with time. Human beings on the other hand have an incredible means to increasing thier knowledge and technology. We exist in the natural world that sometimes touches the edge of the preternatural world. We are the beings that may may make that crossing and come back from it. It makes one wonder if our evolution will eventually take us from the natural world and into the preter-natural world as to exist simultaneously on two planes. If we can learn to control our gullibility and irrationality, will we be able to reason our way to betterness and be immune to calls of malevolent beings in some better evolved form of us? I still have the picture if a great creator that works his magic over millions of years rather than seven days.
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