Brian Tome:
All right. Great. You ready, Dirt? I'm ready. Let's do it. All right. Here we go. Welcome to the aggressive life. You're not paranoid. Well, actually, just cause you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you. In this situation, there actually is something out to get you. And it's specifically a he and his minions bent on your destruction and your distraction. He's known as the devil, the evil one, Lucifer, I know some of you are tempted to roll your eyes and walk away. Some of you are going, oh my gosh, I love horror moves and scary stuff. The Exorcist is my greatest kind of movie way, way back when. Well, if you're in either one of those camps, I want you to stick with us. I think today is going to be incredibly enlightening, maybe encouraging, maybe even life changing. I've got a fantastic guest today. I've been trying to get him for a while. Before him, I was trying to get somebody to look at me. like him. He, for 25 plus years, father Lampert has been a Catholic priest in the diocese of Indianapolis. He's performed weddings, baptisms, funerals, normal priests, stuff. At the same time, he's also been known as an exorcist. While he might look unassuming from the outside, this man's gone toe to toe with evil and his demons on hundreds of occasions. He's not only come out the other side, he's seen victory after victory. He's one of the spoken exorcist in the history of the Catholic Church. Father Lamper is not only bringing spiritual freedom to some of the most hurting people in the country, he's also chipping away at the kingdom of darkness. So forget what you think about you, forget what you think about the movies and forget what you think you know about the demonic realm. If you even believe there's a demonic realm, Father Vincent Lambert is here to shine some light on this and his aggressive life is going to push all of us. I hope the next level, Welcome to the aggressive life father, Vincent Lampert.

Father Vincent Lampert:
Thank you, Brian. It's good to be with you today.

Brian Tome:
It's great to be with you too. We were, for our listeners, we're recording all this and we go through an app that helps me to look at our guests face to face. And I was like, I don't know what I was expecting. I wasn't expecting a Catholic priest to be smiling as much as you are. You're, seriously, there you go again. You're going, I'm thinking, many times those of us who are in the cloth, I'm a man of the cloth, if you will, as well, a Protestant pastor by day. But you know pastors priests Many of us are just not known for having a light heart especially Someone who does extra systems. I expected some guy would have dark rings under your eyes And you'd be bleeding blood out of your ear lobes or something You got a pre-light spirit tell me about that. How can that be?

Father Vincent Lampert:
I think a key ingredient of the Christian life is to be joy-filled and to recognize that when one truly is living out their relationship with Jesus Christ, they discover joy. And one further discovers that the devil is absolutely nothing to fear whatsoever. It's the notion that when one lives in faith, there really is nothing to fear, not even the devil himself.

Brian Tome:
This is really good. I love you just said joy, you know start off with joy. That's that's that's a foundational attribute of us It's not paranoia about the political situation in America. That's not a foundational thing. It's not hypermoralism That's not a foundational thing. It's not the need to be right and have all my arguments alignment. That's not joy Yeah joy levity that that's a great word Tell me how you get into Being an exorcist first of all even like the title I calling you an exorcist Is that a title that you embrace that you would rather a different title? You don't like titles? What's your thoughts on that?

Father Vincent Lampert:
I became the Exorcist for the Diocese of Indianapolis back in 2005. So the Catholic Church recognizes that evil is something real. It's not just a personification of humanity's inhumane treatment of one another, but the Church teaches very clearly that the devil is personified. He's something real. And my bishop is the one who appointed me to exercise and do this ministry in his name. So it's my goal. and role as the exorcist to investigate cases of alleged demonic activity and to determine if the official right of the church needs to be called into play.

Brian Tome:
Okay, so this is actually an official title. This isn't a movie name. Your diocese has an office called The Exorcist.

Father Vincent Lampert:
Yes, there is an office of exorcist

Brian Tome:
Wow.

Father Vincent Lampert:
in the whole entire Catholic Church. So in fact, in the United States now, there are more than 300 Catholic priests who have been designated as exorcist to do this ministry in their local areas.

Brian Tome:
I want to get into how you started this. I want to get into some of the things that you've seen in the demonic realm. But before we get into that, let's just talk about the demonic realm for a moment. A lot of people don't understand this realm. A lot of people think this is just Hollywood. Jesus says, the evil one, the devil, the thief, has come to steal, kill, and destroy So when things aren't going well in our life, it's not by action. It's because of a plan to be stolen from, to be killed, to be destroyed, especially our faith, our one-us with God, to be destroyed. How would you describe in the midst of that this realm, this demonic realm? How do you see it?

Father Vincent Lampert:
I think exactly what you just touched on, the demonic realm is really contrary to everything that God stands for. In the Bible, we learn that God's name is I AM. Even Jesus uses that reference to himself. In the Old Testament, when Moses says to God, when I go to Pharaoh and say, God says to let my people go, who should I say sent me? And God responds, I AM. So God is all about life and living, existence. death and destruction. He's the antithesis of God. If God is about love, the devil is about hate. If God is about life, the devil is about death. So really the devil is seeking our utter destruction. No, we all have new life in Christ. Jesus wants us to be with Him forever in heaven, but the devil would want all of us to be with Him in hell for all eternity.

Brian Tome:
There was a book, gosh, decades ago now, Andrew Delbonco was his name. He was, I think he was a psychologist, definitely not a Christian, and he was out of Columbia University. And I think that the book was called The Death of Satan, The Death of the Devil. And he was talking about how we as a culture have done everything we can to convince ourselves that there is no evil force, When you and I talk about the devil, just sort of listen to the devil, we're not talking about a general mindset. We're not talking about a force, a negative force that's somewhere out there. We're talking about a person who has a personality. His name is Satan, devil, and he has entities that do his bidding and that creates a force. talking about thinking things. And Andrew Delbanco says that we've done ourselves a real, real disservice to convince ourselves that there is no such thing as evil, there is no such thing as Satan. M. Scott Peck, you know, the road less traveled, also wrote a book called People of the Lie. He said, hey, look, as a psychologist, we just got to recognize there's people here who've got spiritual influences on them. They're people of the lie and no amount of reasoning with them is going to do it. So I just want to crack down. the egg for our listeners who are just in the malaise of our culture that wants to ignore this stuff, this stuff is real, and it happens. Your thoughts?

Father Vincent Lampert:
Absolutely. As Christians, we often use the term redemption a lot. I wonder how many of us really know what the word redemption means. It literally means to buy back. So when you think about Jesus dying on the cross, we're getting ready to go into Good Friday and Easter and celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus. But why did he do all of that for us? And I would suggest it's because he's redeeming us, he's buying us back. And from what? when the serpent in the garden first tempted Adam and Eve to be disobedient to God. So Jesus is buying us back from that. But the devil is still trying to tempt us always to go against God and to live independently of God. Freedom in the true sense of the word, I believe, means to be obedient to God. So freedom doesn't mean we get to do whatever we want,

Brian Tome:
Right.

Father Vincent Lampert:
but freedom means to live in the manner that God created us to live. freedom means we can do whatever we want. We end up becoming slaves to our own passions and desires. So again, to me the ministry of exorcism really is about bringing people back into the light of Christ and bringing them out of the darkness of the lies and the deception that Satan led these people into.

Brian Tome:
When I saw the exorcist, gosh, I was how old was I? I was probably... I was probably eight years old and my parents were real tightwads. They didn't spend money on things, especially they didn't spend money on something that would be fun. Like I just stopped my parents. And fortunately for them, now they took care of themselves financially so I don't have to take care of them. So it's all good now. But back in the day, all my friends had HBO and we didn't have HBO. We wouldn't have anything that was something my parents would buy for fun. free subscription to HBO and the exorcist was on and oh my gosh it freaked me out utterly and completely. And it seems like from that moment on whenever there's a demonic theme in a movie it's always a Catholic priest that's kind of thrown in the mix. And I thought that from a Hollywood standpoint, well this kind of makes sense because a Catholic Catholic priest is a good character. Catholic priest has a uniform, you know. You've got physical objects like rosaries. It kind of makes for better theater. So I guess that makes sense for him to keep casting as Catholic. Not never thought of by me that no actual diocese have an actual office of exorcist. Does every diocese have an office of exorcist?

Father Vincent Lampert:
The Catholic Church teaches that the local bishop, because there's a bishop in every diocese, that technically he is the exorcist.

Brian Tome:
Huh.

Father Vincent Lampert:
It's the reminiscent of chapter 9 of Luke's Gospel in verse 1, where Jesus sends out the twelve and gives them authority over all unclean spirits. So the bishop by virtue of his office would have that charism, and then at his discretion he can bestow this charism on one or more of his priests. So yeah. does have an exorcist. When I was appointed back in 2005, I became one of only 12 Catholic exorcists in the United States. And now today that number has grown to more than 300. Because the church recognizes that if she does not address the growing trend of evil, then people are going to turn to the wrong sources to find the help that they need. We're living in an age when faith is in decline.

Brian Tome:
Yep.

Father Vincent Lampert:
And I like to remind people that faith in God leaves and the lack of faith leads us in another. And there are a lot of people in the Western world today who may have grown up in traditional Christian homes. Maybe they were baptized and whatnot. They went to Sunday school, but now they identify as being an atheist, spiritual. But usually that's a reference not to anything of God, but the things of this world. So there is a growing increase, if you will, in demonic activity. And the reason is Not because I believe the devil is up to his game, but because more people today are willing to play the devil's game. So when people abandon their faith and they move outside of the realm of God, they are putting themselves within the realm of the evil one.

Brian Tome:
Amen. Oh my gosh. Amen. Wow. Who says, who says Catholic priests can't lay it down? Strap it on. Come on. Wow. You know what I'm loving right now? I'm loving that the budget judgemental Protestants were part of my thing. They're going like, damn, damn, this guy is like cracking my nuts, let alone

Father Vincent Lampert:
Thank

Brian Tome:
nuts.

Father Vincent Lampert:
you. Bye.

Brian Tome:
That is fantastic. Wow, dude. Man, you didn't, I even asked you. I said, you want to go by father? You want to go by father? By Vincent, by Father Vincent, he said, you don't care. I just love the spirit about you, Father. Father Vincent, Vince, I still feel uncomfortable like figuring out the right nomenclature. But I tell you, you just nailed so many people who I personally know who have quote-unquote deconstructed their faith. They've – first of all, it wasn't that Christianity was proven nonsensical. It was that they were proven unfaithful. You didn't just come across some scientific thing.

Father Vincent Lampert:
Hmm.

Brian Tome:
and you walked away from your vows, you're unfaithful. And the number of people I've seen who've walked away from their faith and have walked into much more personal tragedy difficulty, it's really astounding. I have to think, probably some of that is you walked into, or you, I don't know, you walked away from the covering of God, you walked into more darkness, what do you think about that? Are you seeing these things?

Father Vincent Lampert:
Absolutely. And I think the reality is the devil has a greater hold on people who have walked away from their faith. So there's a difference between demonic activity in the apostate world, meaning people who knew the truth of Jesus Christ and then walked away from that truth, and people who have never heard it for the first time. In 2017, I had the opportunity to spend two weeks in South Africa doing exorcism ministry. who had never come to Christ, who were possessed. When the exorcisms were done, they were immediate and effective. But in the Western world, where people have walked away from their faith, it seems that exorcism prayers have to be repeated more than once, because these people knew the truth and they rejected it, and somehow that gives the devil a deeper hold on these folks.

Brian Tome:
So 2017 you were there, what was it that caused the bishop of Indianapolis to say, you're my guy, you're my exorcist? Was he hearing of things you were doing or did you just, what made you qualify for him to give you the official title exorcist?

Father Vincent Lampert:
I actually knew my bishop before he became my bishop, so when I was in the seminary training to be a priest, this bishop was actually the rector of the college seminary where I attended, so he knew me. In 2005, the exorcist in Indianapolis passed away and the bishop said he was looking for a replacement and because he knew me, and he said, I'm looking for a priest to do this ministry who believes in the reality of evil, but not one who's going to be too quick to believe that everyone who comes to me who thinks they're dealing with the demonic that that is actually the case. So kind of having a good balance being able to determine is this demonic, is somebody suffering some physical or mental malady that needs to be addressed by a doctor or someone in the mental health profession. So he thought that I would be a good candidate because I would bring a well-balanced approach to this ministry.

Brian Tome:
So what's the difference between something that is, how can you tell the difference between something that is demonic and something that's just part of a natural, fallen world?

Father Vincent Lampert:
Yeah, that's a real challenge, because even some of the things that we see within people who are possessed, vocal outbursts, eyes rolling in the back of the head, the foaming at the mouth, we can see these things in people that may be suffering from Tourette syndrome, from schizophrenia. So we really have to do a very thorough investigation. The Catholic Church would require anyone who believes they're possessed to have some type of psychiatric evaluation. Oftentimes, people hear that and they say, well, doesn't believe me. But the reality is if one truly is possessed, they need to be in a strong mental state to go through an exorcism. And then the church requires the person to go through a physical examination by their family doctor, again wanting to rule out any physical cause. I would then do an intake questionnaire trying to determine if this truly is demonic, what was the entry point for the demonic into this person's life. Because you know for a Christian who's If they're going to church, they're praying and reading the Bible, the devil is already on the run. We don't have to do anything extraordinary to defeat the devil. It is the ordinary aspects of our faith. So what did a person do that invited the demonic in? Step four would be to look for signs of possible demonic possession, speaking languages otherwise unknown to the individual, having superhuman strength, having elevated perception, knowledge things that that person as an individual otherwise would not know and then a negative reaction to anything of a sacred nature such as being in a church having the Bible read in front of them being blessed with holy water being shown a crucifix and so on. And then step five is probably the most important. It's to bring the person to Christ for the first time or to bring them back to Christ if they walked away. And I would even suggest that casting the demon out is actually the easy A harder part is to convince people that God needs to have his rightful place in their life.

Brian Tome:
Well, Jesus says that, right? He says it's really not a good thing to have your house empty, the demon gone because more is going to come and inhabit it. There's that initial release that, oh, I feel better. But if we don't replace it with Jesus on the Lord of our life, all kinds of influences are going to come in there.

Father Vincent Lampert:
Absolutely.

Brian Tome:
What was your first, and I wanna get into in a moment, I wanna get into the difference between how the demonic plays out in South Africa or quote unquote, undeveloped countries versus America. I think there's a lot of good there for us to unpack. But what was your first absolute no question I'm dealing with a demon situation?

Father Vincent Lampert:
The church says the best way to learn the ministry is through the apprenticeship model. So when I became one of only 12, there really wasn't anyone to train under here in the United States. So my bishop sent me to Rome in the early part of 2006. And a priest in Rome allowed me to sit in on 40 exorcisms that he performed during the three months that I was there. And then that allowed me to learn firsthand the ministry of the church to those who were up against the forces of evil who are seeking help. So.

Brian Tome:
I started to have my own dealings in the demonic over the last decade or so. I've started to see it more in different ways. And the priest you're talking about in the Vatican, I actually tried to get into a seminar because he was doing a seminar and he rejected me because I'm Protestant. What is that

Father Vincent Lampert:
Thank

Brian Tome:
about,

Father Vincent Lampert:
you. Bye.

Brian Tome:
man? What, you can't help the rest of the people in the family of God? Ha ha ha ha ha

Father Vincent Lampert:
I would he may not have but

Brian Tome:
ha

Father Vincent Lampert:
I will

Brian Tome:
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha So you started seeing in that true demonic. Is it the stuff that you just mentioned? Like voices? Like what was the first one where you went, oh wow, this isn't a movie, this is real? Can you take us back there? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

Father Vincent Lampert:
Yeah, so the very first exorcism that priests allowed me to sit on was an elderly Italian lady. She was there with her husband. So I was speaking with her. She told me she believed that she became possessed through a curse. Now I tell people that curses are only effective if we're weak in our faith. We can't control what somebody else does. But as Saint Paul tells us, if we're putting on the full armor of Christ, we need not fear the evil one. of the night nor the arrow that flies by day. So if we're living strong in our faith, Christus have no impact on us whatsoever. But if we're weak in our faith, they can find that chink in our armor and then try to enter in. So I'm talking to this lady, she's telling me why she's possessed. And it is important to note that just because somebody's possessed, doesn't mean they're manifesting all the time. It means that they've made a connection with a demon and something will trigger that demon to show itself. So I'm talking to her. The priest who was training me, he walks into the room and he puts a roll of paper towels on the table. He walks back out again. He comes in again and ties a plastic grocery bag onto the wall radiator in the room where the exorcism is going to take place. And I'm watching him out of one corner of my eye and I'm talking to this lady. And then the priest walks back in again and he has the ritual of exorcism in his hand. He begins to pray. He takes holy water. and blesses the person. And why holy water? It's not that holy water is magic, but what it represents. It represents our new life into Christ. You know, where Jesus says in the letter to the Romans, are you unaware that we who are baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his life? So again, it's reminding us of our new life in Christ. As soon as the drops of water hit her head, her eyes rolled back in her head, she began to growl and snarl and foam at the mouth. And then the eyes came back down with this horrid angry look staring at me, and I'm thinking, what in the world is going on? And the priest grabs a paper towel, wipes her mouth off, throws it in the grocery bag, and then continues to pray. So he's not even impressed by these manifestations. Other manifestations can be that I've seen over the years. There can be levitation where the body actually starts to rise out of the chair. I seen when demons manifest, the body drops to the ground, against the slither like a snake across the floor, horrible smells, a drop in the temperature of the room, the voice becomes deeper, more authoritative. All of these things are like a child throwing a temper tantrum, who wants the attention given to it. Whereas in an exorcism, the focus is always on God. Now I tell people that in an exorcism, Jesus is not a bystander, he's the main actor. If we're relying on me We're all in trouble, but if we're relying on the power and the authority in the name of Jesus Christ That he's given to his church and to the church's ministers That's the right mindset to have but all of these manifestations are really meant to instill fear Where the devil says look at me look at me and what I can do Whereas in an exorcism the church is saying don't look at the devil look at God and look at what God can do in your life

Brian Tome:
I was always under the impression, and I'm gouting it now, I'm questioning it now. I'd like to hear your thoughts on it, that a believer, a Christian, I'm not talking about somebody who's been aligned with the church. I'm not talking about somebody who is maybe even been baptized. I'm talking about somebody who has given their life to Christ, the Holy Spirit dwells inside of them. That's one of the things that we get as Christians. We don't just get a set of beliefs. we get a power inside of us that has got himself and is beyond us. And I was always under the impression that a Christian can be oppressed like the demons outside can flicker you in the head and like mess with you, but can't be possessed. We can be oppressed, some outside but not possessed inside because the spirit is inside of us. Then I had a situation, years ago where I had a guy who was frothing at the mouth, like frothing at the mouth. I asked him to give a name and he couldn't give it and he was frothing at the mouth for, felt like five minutes, there was probably two minutes, just opening his mouth and just foam coming out of his mouth. And that guy, I'm pretty confident that guy was a Christian, I'm pretty confident that I know of him, that if he got hit by a bus he was going to heaven. So I don't know, it just made me go, hmm, I don't know. What do you think? Can you be possessed if you're a Christian? Or is there something else that was happening with him? Or is this just... Give us your thoughts on this.

Father Vincent Lampert:
I think of one is truly living out their relationship with Christ, recognizing their fill with the Holy Spirit. I don't believe that person can become possessed. They can't do anything that brings that on themselves. Now demonic oppression is considered to be a gift from God. The God allows one who may be even faithful to be oppressed by the devil. And why would God do that? Well think of Job in the Old Testament, where God permitted Satan to afflict him, even though Job didn't do anything wrong. When Job has lost everything, his body is covered in sores, he's sitting in ashes and wearing sackcloth, and his wife says to him, Curse God and die, and he beats his breast and says, The Lord give it, the Lord take it away, blessed be the name of the Lord. Meaning, if things be good, I glorify God. If things be bad, I glorify God. My personal circumstances mean nothing when it comes to God's rightful place in my life. St. Paul was oppressed. He talks about the thorn in his flesh. that was sent to torment him to keep him from becoming proud. And I think God uses oppression as a way to evangelize people. It's important for people to realize that the devil was cast out of heaven, but he wasn't cast out of creation. God still has a purpose for him to serve in God's great plan for humanity. So it is possible that God may permit someone, who's a very devout Christian, oppression, maybe even be possessed, but I would say that God is doing that in very limited ways as a way to help evangelize and bring even more people to Christ.

Brian Tome:
Let me back up. I was with you 100%. I just want to clarify. I had you clarified. You said God could allow a Christian to be oppressed or possessed. You think,

Father Vincent Lampert:
Yeah.

Brian Tome:
so you think a Christian can be possessed. They could possess the Holy Spirit and the evil spirit at the same time inside their, their heart.

Father Vincent Lampert:
I think God may allow that if he's trying to bring about some greater good. And I've even known devout Christians who would say they would even invite or welcome that demonic affliction or possession if somehow God could use that to bring even more people to Christ. Because you're right, I would agree with you 100%. Wherever the Holy Spirit dwells, an unclean spirit cannot remain. But it is possible, I think, very limited ways permit that if God is trying to bring out about a greater good and that person is almost making themselves sometimes people use the term a victim's soul

Brian Tome:
Yeah.

Father Vincent Lampert:
that they're willing to allow that to happen

Brian Tome:
Yeah.

Father Vincent Lampert:
if somehow that's going to bring more people to Christ

Brian Tome:
Yeah.

Father Vincent Lampert:
and somehow put themselves at God's disposal.

Brian Tome:
Well, we might disagree with that, but I'll tell you what, I've gone 31 minutes with a Catholic priest since maybe my first disagreements. That's pretty awesome. And again, here's my man laughing on the other end. That's good. It might just be semantics. What's the line, what's the line to stand between oppression or possession? I don't know. That's really good perspective. I'm really getting helped here. This is great, man. Thank you. All right, let's go back to 2017. You talked about being in South Africa and seeing a lot more obvious demonic activity, kind of the classic movie type. And we're just not seeing that all that much here. I believe, and I like to get your opinion on this, I believe that... I believe that the evil one tipping his hand in a showy way in some cultures is very, very effective. And I believe the evil one is probably a little smarter than we think he is. And he thinks, you know, if I give them an exorcist movie live and in person right in front of their face, it might actually wake these people up spiritually. Because people like to delude themselves with general spiritual talk and like to delude everything's okay, and I'm okay, you're okay, and everything is fine. And I think that Eve One kind of underplays his hand because he realizes he already has us. And there's no need to get flashy. What's your thoughts on that? And I think that Eve One is a great example of how we can help people. And I think that Eve One is a great example of how we can help people. And I think that Eve One is a great example of how we can help people.

Father Vincent Lampert:
There is something called perfect possession,

Brian Tome:
Hmm.

Father Vincent Lampert:
whereby somebody takes their free will and they are united completely with the devil. Demonic manifestations are an indication that there is still a battle taking place between this person and the demon. The person does not really want it, so they are in a battle against it. But perfect possession would be someone who is living in a harmonious relationship with the demon. You might think of using the term where people sold their soul to the devil. So there really is no reason for the demon to manifest because he's already won that person over. I had a young lady tell me one time she said, Father I listened to one of your interviews that you gave and she goes, I like to be involved in a lot of a cold activity. She goes, I do seances and I go see witches and practice magic and she goes, I've never been afflicted by the devil. So how can you explain that? And I told her, I think you've answered your own question. already won you over, so there's no need for him to manifest or attack you.

Brian Tome:
Right.

Father Vincent Lampert:
So there is that possibility that one is living in a harmonious relationship with the demon, so it's perfect possession.

Brian Tome:
Yeah, I think we got to go back to the base motive of what the Satanic wants, what the evil one wants. He doesn't really care if we're rich or poor. He doesn't really care if we have a great marriage or not. He doesn't really care how happy or unhappy we are. All he cares about is that we don't have a relationship with the one living God, his name is Jesus Christ. That's all he cares about. And so, if he can distract you from that by giving you a great marriage, you can do You're allowing that great if you can distract from that by having a crappy marriage great If you can distract from that by giving you money great if you can strike you want that by happy night I haven't he doesn't care about those things that we care about all we cares about is that we don't know the one living God He's trying to tear down and destroy God's creation. So yeah makes total sense. Why are the occult seems fine? It seems innocent great. He'll let you have a fine innocent quote unquote innocent occult like experience So you don't ever turn your eyes on the one true God and actually give your life to him.

Father Vincent Lampert:
Absolutely, because giving our life to Christ means that we have eternal life. The devil can do things. I mean, he wants our destruction and our death. Again, go back to the Garden of Eden. When the serpent tempted Eve, you know, surely you will not die, you will become like gods.

Brian Tome:
Yeah.

Father Vincent Lampert:
And it was a lie because what was the end result? Death entered into the world. And that's what the devil wants. He wants our death. But again, Christ has died on the cross to restore us to life. All of us are called to have that new life in Christ, and as you just said, the devil does not want us to have that. So if he can distract us with the things of this world, which are passing here today and gone tomorrow, then really we're walking a pathway that's leading to death, and that would please the devil nothing more than to have us take the wrong path in life.

Brian Tome:
Do you ever feel afraid in these encounters, or did you ever feel afraid in them?

Father Vincent Lampert:
I think initially, first on, you know, it's one thing to sit on an exorcism and then to realize, well, the other priest is in charge. I don't have to worry about this.

Brian Tome:
Thank you. Thank you.

Father Vincent Lampert:
But then when I started doing them back here in the States and then realizing, okay, I don't have that other priest with me. It's now it's me. But then again, it's not just me. I know that God is with me. So the power and the authority of Jesus Christ, the presence of the Holy Spirit. So again, relying on those things. You know, the devil is really nothing to fear. So I don't live in fear of any of these things. Now there's a natural human reaction. If somebody jumps out at me, I'm going to be startled and jump back. But I don't live in fear of anything that the devil tries to do. Because I know that the power of God is greater than the power of the devil. We should never put God and the devil on the same playing field. The devil is still a creature and a creature can never be equated to smart, and he can use all these tricks up his sleeve, if you will, to try to deceive us, but as long as we remain living in the truth of Christ, and when we fall, which we all do because we are all sinners, all we have to do is repent and make a return to the Lord, and the Lord is always ready to welcome us back.

Brian Tome:
Do you find, when you go into these exorcisms, do you find any patterns around when you're more effective, when you're less effective, when you're on your game, when you're not on your game, when you're thinking clearly, when you don't think clearly, like, you know, we all have updates and down days in our faith, most of us have little pet sins that we fall into from time to time, or we dabble in it from time to time, time, whatever those are. Do you find that any of those things affect your performance when you're in those demonic situations?

Father Vincent Lampert:
It can, which is why I would never do an exorcism if I wasn't in the proper frame of mind. So, I tell people there's no such thing as an emergency exorcism. Because usually when things are done too quickly and hastily, that's when usually troubles come about. And the devil knows he's trying to defeat him, so he will do everything in his power to attack that person. So as a priest, you know, I spend time, I would celebrate Mass, I would make sure that I've confessed any of my sins, I will spend time in prayer, I will fast. So again, I want to make sure that I am preparing myself as a clean vessel, if you will, an instrument of God that he can use to help the person who's being tormented by the devil or one of his demons and to bring them the relief that God would want that person to have. Because ultimately, in an exorcism, The demon is commanded to return, that which is a stolen, namely a person created in the image and likeness of God.

Brian Tome:
That's really good. I like your description about preparation, which should be the same preparation for going to preach, for instance. I should have

Father Vincent Lampert:
No.

Brian Tome:
the same kind of things that you have for going to preach. Gosh, here's an interesting one for you. I'd love to get your impression on this, what you think about this. It was about, I'm going to say, 15, gosh, maybe 20 years now. 20 years ago, I went away on a summer break and I was in a point in my faith where I was a bit stale and also bummed that I wasn't seeing some of the more miraculous supernatural things that when you read the New Testament, seems like it's kind of normal almost, right? And so there's a verse there in the Gospels where it says, you know, you will see scorpions example, then you'll pick up poisonous snakes, that kind of thing. And I was like, God, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not seeing anything like that. I'm not experiencing anything like that. And I was meditating on that over the, over my break. One night it was in Florida, one night in the middle of the night, I had to get up to take a pee. And I get up and I go into the bathroom middle of the night and it's dark as it always is, but I felt a presence in the room, which I've never felt before. It wasn't like I, well, I go take a whiz in the middle of the night. I'm, I'm barely not even conscious. I'm just right. I'm just, don't open your eyes. Just keep them shut and stumble there. But I went in the bathroom and I felt a presence which I had never felt that before. Like, what is this? And I turned on the light and there on the ground was a scorpion which I have never seen a scorpion in my life. Not before that, not since. Actually, I did see one at Man Camp. We had a little visual gap. that we use but I've never seen a scorpion before in my life other than on the movies. And so I killed it. I didn't have the faith to kill it with my bare heel. I used a towel and killed

Father Vincent Lampert:
Ha

Brian Tome:
it.

Father Vincent Lampert:
ha.

Brian Tome:
So that's what I did is I brought that scorpion home and I had somebody put it in Lycra. So it's like it's a Lycra block right now that when I preach it sits on a coffee table in a room where I prepare myself and I put my foot on top of the scorpion and say a final prayer before the evil one here. He's still killing and destroying people. We're going to trample him and crush him today, that kind of thing. Looking back on that, with your experience, is there any color commentary you would give on that or explanation or anything like that?

Father Vincent Lampert:
I think God used that episode as a way to help you in your ministry. Again, that goes back to what I said earlier. The devil was cast out of heaven, but he wasn't cast out of creation. So God can still use the devil as the tool, if you will, to advance his own kingdom. So again, I think the experience, so if you took some time off in the summer, you were down in Florida maybe questioning some things. But to me, that's become a very profound experience for you. put in Lycra you use it now so it really was an epiphany moment if you will in your life. So again you know anytime I experienced demonic attacks as well but I always say well why is God permitting this to happen and I know that God is using the devil as a way to help me to even grow in my better understanding of this ministry and the way that I can help people.

Brian Tome:
That's good. Great. Thank you. Let's say you're giving a master class in this. I don't think we have many students here in the podcast who are up for a master class on exorcism. I think most people in the podcast just need to wrestle with our personal choices, whether or not we're honoring Christ or honoring the evil one. I think that's the main thing that most people need to deal with. But let's go to the next level. Let's say someone gets pretty proficient at that and they're going to maybe be used by somehow in this area. You definitely, of all the people I've met who've interacted with a demonic, aware of the demonic, you definitely are the best person I've ever known. You definitely have the most wisdom period on this. And I would just again, I'm humbled by you. This is really good. There's a lot of people who are over in Protestantism who just think that we're the only ones who read the Bible, understand the spiritual world. Just not true. So all of us who are listening right now judgmental Protestants just need to eat a bit of humble pie and at least open up the idea that maybe you've been demonically oppressed to think less of many of our brothers and sisters. So, but for those of us who have some maturity to maybe be able to deal with this when it's thrust in front of our face, let me just ask some questions and give us a masterclass. One. biggest thing humans misunderstand about demons.

Father Vincent Lampert:
The biggest thing that people misunderstand

Brian Tome:
Yes.

Father Vincent Lampert:
is that they really are not as powerful as they present themselves to be. It's really a world of illusion. So they're presenting themselves to be something greater than they truly are. Because you know the human person is created in the image and likeness of God. The angels were not created in the image and likeness of God. And that includes the good and the fallen. So again, the human person greater than angelic creatures. And so the demons are actually jealous of humans.

Brian Tome:
Oh my gosh dirt. Where do we find this guy from everything he says just like this crushes me I thought I thought I knew the Bible in the spiritual realm my word Damn

Father Vincent Lampert:
Thank you.

Brian Tome:
no

Father Vincent Lampert:
Bye.

Brian Tome:
question Which ever could see him you smile like a butcher's dog right now he's got her He's got her He's got her. He's got such a good infectious light-hearted spirit which you know so many of us are just so down and sourmouth and we're not dealing with the obvious demonic like you are. Father, thank you. This is great. Okay, here we go. Let's keep our masterclass going. This isn't a let's affirm the Catholic priest day, but I feel like doing it anyway because you've been a blessing to us. Okay, what power does Satan then actually have?

Father Vincent Lampert:
Satan has no power over us except the power that we give him over us. So really, it's us submitting to him that gives him his power over us. And if we give power to him, we can certainly take it back. So if we've given power to the devil because of the ignorance of our faith, the weakness of our faith, we can grow in holiness and virtue, understand that we've done something wrong, and then we can renounce that and take it back. but the devil has no power over us. Save the power that we give him.

Brian Tome:
One of the dangerous things I believe for us to do is to try to evaluate somebody else about what their issues are, what strongholds they have, what's their hangups. I just think it's just not good time management to worry about somebody else's stuff when we've all got plenty of stuff going on in our own life. Let alone Jesus says, hey, first take the plank out of your eye, then you can figure out the speck in the other person's eye. that's the way we have to be. And at the same time, some of us maybe have some close friendships with people who may be afflicted, maybe even a parent who might have a child that's got issues that they can't figure out and psychologists can't figure out and maybe medicine is in solving. Are there any standard signs under-undoed demonic influence? Like, obviously, you're changing the temperature in the room. I guess that's one, what other kind of things might happen where we might go, hmm, I might want to call a person like Father Vincent Lampert or somebody who believes and is equipped to deal with the spiritual realm.

Father Vincent Lampert:
So in the right of exorcism itself, there are four things that I'm told I should look for. I mentioned them earlier. So that's why there's no such thing as an emergency exorcism. I should get to know the person. That way I know, am I talking to this person or is it now the demon who is speaking through this person? Because when a person is possessed, the demon is using that person's body as if it were its own.

Brian Tome:
Hmm.

Father Vincent Lampert:
Using person's eyes to see, their mouth to speak, their ears to hear. So that, human strength? Is it that individual? Is it a demon? Speaking languages otherwise unknown to the individual. And I don't mean like the gift of the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues, but usually human languages, maybe speaking in Greek or something like that, some ancient languages. But again, the demon is trying to show, say, look at my intellect, look at what I'm capable of doing. Having elevated perception, knowledge about things that I know that that person as an individual otherwise does not know. and then have a negative reaction to anything of a sacred nature. Again, reading the Bible in front of them, bringing them into a church. So these are things that would give me, the church says, the moral certitude to know beyond a doubt that the person in front of me is truly dealing with the demonic and this is not a mental illness or the person not putting on some type of a ruse as a way to try to ridicule the church into mock Christianity.

Brian Tome:
Not to judge people who have entertainment desires that I don't, but I've never understood somebody who loves horror movies. Man, and that's just because maybe it freaks me out so much. A proclivity for horror movies. Does that say anything one way or the other?

Father Vincent Lampert:
Yeah, that could be an entry point. I call that the entertainment industry. You think of Halloween, which is now the second biggest spending holiday in the United States, the fascination with the devil, whether it's movies and books and, you know, video games. There's a lot of things with the demonic today. And people need to realize the devil can play on a person's memory and imagination. So when we're putting all this stuff into our heads, we're giving the devil fuel, you know, that he can use to really try to attack us and literally get inside of our heads.

Brian Tome:
You mentioned, you said one time, quote, I quote you, I fight the devil by tweeting about exorcism. What do you mean by that?

Father Vincent Lampert:
So many exorcists in the Catholic Church are not known. They prefer to remain anonymous. But I am publicly known. In fact, when my bishop appointed me 18 years ago, he said that if I was comfortable enough that I could be public about it as a way to help educate people. So I am public in the ministry of exorcism in many different forms, whether it's doing interviews and tweets and things like that, because I think it's the form of evangelization.

Brian Tome:
Hmm.

Father Vincent Lampert:
new evangelization because again so many people that have known Christ are walking away from him and people do need to know that a relationship with Christ does make a difference.

Brian Tome:
Yes, it's a big thing that's happening. There's a numbing effect on us. And what I'm hoping that today does, and some of your wisdom and counsel, it just kind of rattles us to stop being fixated to the things in this world that can be so tempting and intoxicating. You've done a great job with that. All right, I wanna go into the lightning round. I wanna finish our time with the lightning round. Okay, we'll see. We'll see what all your Catholic teaching is done to help you with the lightning round. We'll see how quick your mind actually operates or if the evil one has put his goo in your synaptic

Father Vincent Lampert:
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Brian Tome:
connections. We'll see right then. The lightning round is when I give you a topic and you have to answer like lightning like two sentences. One sentence. Are you up for the lightning round? Exorcist, Father Vincent Lampert.

Father Vincent Lampert:
Let's do it.

Brian Tome:
Okay, here we go. The most aggressive move in your life that you're making personally right now.

Father Vincent Lampert:
to recognize that being a minister in the church is a vocation and not an occupation. So being a priest, being a minister in any other church, we do what we do because it's a vocation, a calling from God. It's not an occupation, something that we just do to occupy our time. The

Brian Tome:
is very aggressive. Dirt, you hear that because, you know, I hope Dirt hears this because we're just talking today about how good he's gotten at podcasts and he's doing really great. He's my executive producer here as you know, he's just talking with you. And I know you're getting all kind of tempting offers from people, people are like, oh, come do my podcast. Dirt, this is a vocation. This is, yeah, that's right, it's your calling. This is not your freaking occupation. I don't care if someone pays you more. Amen. You got that? All right, good good. In fact, it's the demonic realm that would make you want to go do something else That would be demonic. Yeah, it would be even worse All right, here we go second one in such an exhausting line of work. Where do you find? Joy and happiness. What do you do?

Father Vincent Lampert:
I find joy and happiness in God's people. So you mentioned at the beginning of the podcast that as a priest, you know, I do services on the weekend. I do weddings and funerals and baptisms. So being involved in the everyday life of God's people is very enriching. And I also enjoy God's creation. So I'm a lover of the National Park System. There are 426 units in the National Park System and I have visited 350 of them.

Brian Tome:
Wow. Are you, okay, we're going off the lightning round now. Just follow question. Are you, do you just go visit and do a hotel? Or are you a camper as well?

Father Vincent Lampert:
You know, growing up, I have eight brothers and sisters.

Brian Tome:
Mm.

Father Vincent Lampert:
Every summer we camped in Indiana State Parks. So it's a combination of both. I don't mind camping out. If I'm with other family members, I have a sister who says the only form of roughing that she wants to do is to stay in the hotel and have to walk down the hallway to get your own bucket of ice. Ha ha ha. And that's it. I hope you enjoyed this video. I'll see you in the next one. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.

Brian Tome:
right.

Father Vincent Lampert:
Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.

Brian Tome:
Right. All right. Next one. What is God teaching you right now?

Father Vincent Lampert:
God is teaching me right now that God is real and that God needs to be real in the life of each and every person. So the human person has the innate desire for God and when we foster that relationship with God we find a sense of meaning, purpose, and direction in life and when we don't we find ourselves lost and when we are lost the devil is always trying to seek us out so that he God is really all about Trying to awaken people to the importance of his presence in their life Saint Augustine said our hearts are restless the Lord until they rest in you So if the human person wants to know what it means to be fully alive Then know the person of Jesus Christ

Brian Tome:
Really that's a really good word. I had this some I think we said we're gonna go an hour. I was almost up to an hour. Do you have a few more minutes? Go ahead and tell you a story if you do, okay. There's something that happened in my life recently that I think is very demonic and demonic in a way that people may not understand. So here's the deal. My son and I went on a bike trip, motorcycle trip, and then at the end of that trip, a week camping, that's what remind me of this camping thing. We ride our bikes off-road and then we camp. So six nights of no showers, no nothing. We bring our, and we're sweating all day, right? bikes and in heat out in Vegas and in California. So we come back to Vegas, which is where we shipped our bikes to. And then as a buddy is going to drive them back and we're going to fly back the next day, but we're going to get a shower that night and we're going to go to a casino. I like casinos. I don't, I don't like going to the casino in Cincinnati because it's generally people there who, who can't afford to gamble. They're hoping they get rich and it's just a depressing thing. But when you go to Vegas, you, you've got people who are in for conventions. and just about everybody loses, but they planned on it and they're not hurting their families financially. At least that's the way I look at it. So I go in and my son says, ah, dad, I don't really wanna play Blackjack. I wanna do this other game over here. Do you mind? I said, no, that's fine, I don't care. Yeah, fine. So I'm at the Blackjack table. I'm there for hours, hours. And I'm not there because I'm planning on changing my financial outlook. It's like, it's just, it's like if I had the ability to play a strategist old game. I'm just enjoying the game, right? And I'm in the game for hours. I think I was there from like 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. And I haven't run out of money and sometimes I'm way up in money and sometimes it's dropped way down. But I'm doing okay and it gets to be about one o'clock in the morning and the people at the table see I've been on a real run and they're like, you should just go, man. You're up. You should go. I'm like, yeah, but I don't want to go. I'm having fun here. So I didn't go. I lost some money. Like not lost all my money, but I cashed out fine. I was just too tired. I had a bunch of chips and I've cast and I had more cash in my wallet than I normally have I'm walking I'm walking to the hotel It's a very or to the elevator. It's a very complicated kind of labyrinth And I'm walking there by myself and I hear out of here out of my ear. I hear Well, you look like fun And I turned around looked and there was there was two very attractive women And it's like, huh, what is it? I take a step towards them and I realize, oh man, this is, no, these are women of the night, call girls, whatever you wanna call them. And I took a step forward and I turned around and said nothing and went to my elevator, went up to my room. And I sat in my room that night and the next day, terrified. And the reason I was terrified is I thought it was two parts to it, boom, and then boom. The first thing was, man, I am really in a moment of weakness here. I've got cash in my pocket, a lot of cash in my pocket. I'm in the middle of a hallway, an elevator, and no one knows me in this place, and no one can see me. It was just me and them. And you know, I had a couple drinks. They're free drinks at the table, more than a couple. And I just thought, gosh, I could have just tanked it right there. I could have tanked my marriage. I could have brought scandal to the church. That was, wow, and I just thought, how the old line, Bump of the Grace of God, go I. And so I was terrified of just how bad that could have been. And then the turn came for me. This is to where you're talking with Christ. Then the turn came to me. It came sometime the next morning. It dawned on me, man, I'm only processing this through what I could have lost if I went with those women. I'm processing this so I could have lost my character. I could have lost my job. I could have lost, I wouldn't have been true to my faith. And I realized, Jesus, I'm sorry. I am, I'm thinking about this. I'm not thinking about what you would have thought about this. I'm not relationship, I'm thinking about how it would affect the principles of this. I think there's a lot of people who are in the Christian faith, but they're really not in a relationship with Jesus. They're in a system that has certain beliefs they're trying to be faithful for. And I think that could be part of what the evil one wants to do. Our faith is impersonal with God. It's just this religiosity. What do you think about that?

Father Vincent Lampert:
I think that's absolutely true. And that goes back to maybe the thing we were going to, maybe we were disagreeing with a little bit at minute 31.

Brian Tome:
Yeah.

Father Vincent Lampert:
We weren't really disagreeing, I don't think. But again, I think when people believe they're a Christian and they think it's about them, there's a chink in the armor again that the devil can use to his advantage. But if we're really in that relationship and realize it's about Christ and not about me, if we're living in that mindset, a demon can have no hold on you whatsoever. So I think the bigger challenge is, do we wear the label of being a Christian, or are we actually living in the life? Are we talking the talk and walking the walk? And if we're doing that, the devil is on the run.

Brian Tome:
Right. Yeah, Brian, if I could jump in. Yeah. Thank you. You said that person with the foaming mouth had this big stand in their been we are the big on the podcast. Yeah. And he'd been like, I'm grateful to his wife. And I've heard Paul Lambert say, if you have these huge sins in your life that you're not confessing, you're not being honest about that could be a cheek in your armor. I think that would be helpful. He had been unfaithful to his wife, but it had come out. His wife knew that. But there were elements of it that he couldn't deal with. There was something in it. So what happens? He couldn't say the name of the woman he had indulged the ferriff with. And that was when I was like, what's her name? He said, I, I, and I realized, okay, there's something going on here. Guy can't talk. He's starting to gag and he's starting to get frothy at the mouth. And I get up and I kick him. I'm at the campfire. I kick him and I say, using a different word, what's her freaking name? What's your name? And he's, and that's when the foam starts coming out and he's like, and then finally it comes. out and we prayed on him and there's a bit of a breakthrough there. Yeah. I just didn't want people to think like, well, there was this person who's following Jesus and then suddenly he had a demon in him. Like, there was a big thing. Oh, right, right, right. That's right. Yeah, we don't catch demons like we can't. Confidence to people. They're not second guessing everything in their life. Amen. We don't catch demons like we catch COVID. That's right.

Father Vincent Lampert:
Thank you. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.

Brian Tome:
Right, right, right. Okay, good. So are you going to insert that earlier? that right here. Yeah, well, I'm gonna do something we've never done before in the aggressive life. This is great. I've never done this before in there, but we're gonna end. Well, for the end. Father, is there anything that you want to talk about that we haven't talked about? Anything that we should be talking about that we haven't talked about?

Father Vincent Lampert:
I think the most important thing that I might end with is the importance for Christians today to work together. You know, we're in a situation, a point in human history, when faith is in decline. And I think people of different faith traditions, we should not view ourselves as the worst enemies. Sometimes I view the division within Christianity. It's kind of like going through a cafeteria line. We're all getting the main course. Maybe the sides we're picking up are different. So as Christians, the main course needs to be the same. Christ needs to be at the center of our life. But whether one is evangelical or Catholic or Orthodox, maybe how we express what's at the core may be a little different. But I don't believe at the end of the day any of us gets to say, ha ha ha, I have a bigger piece of God than you do. So God is not a prize to be gained by some at the expense of others. We are all God's children. We're all creating the image and likeness of God. And I believe that at this moment in history, Christians need to be more united in standing up and saying, God does make a difference in the world, and we need to make sure that God has a place in our lives. A lot of people today talk about climate change. And usually it's about weather. But I think there's this big spiritual climate change today and when God is being removed is when we see all these problems that are going on and the solution is to put God back into the center of human life. Now the devil wants us to push God off center so I think in the ministry of exorcism it's really about helping people rediscover that God needs to be at the center of their life.

Brian Tome:
That's great. There's a prayer that we all know, just about all of us know, Protestant or Catholic or Orthodox. The Lord's Prayer is what it is. I was just telling you on the other day, the Lord's Prayer is really not a prayer that Jesus prayed. It was a sermon and talk he gave to people as to how to pray. He said, teach us how to pray. He said, well, when you pray, do this. So it's a model prayer. It's good prayer. You find a prayer that. actually prayed was when he says, Lord, I pray that they may be one, that us as followers would be one, that people would see our love for one another and say, what do those people have going on? That's a faith I want to be a part of. And unfortunately, that prayer still hasn't been answered with a yes, because too many of us are feeling superior to other faith traditions and trying to make sure everyone sees how we're right and others are wrong inside of the Christian not one yet. I think one of the things you've done for us is you're helping us be one. I feel very one with you. I'm... there's all kind of things I could ask you. Why couldn't you ask a Catholic priest about Mary? How come you didn't ask a Catholic priest about the abuse of the Catholic Church? How come you didn't like... well one, that wasn't the point of why I wanted to talk with you. Two, why do we always have to be finding what's wrong? Why can't we just have a good conversation on stuff? And you've... you've rang my bell. You've built enemy as much as anybody has in recent memory today, man. I spent a power-packed hour. So thank you, and I'm gonna ask you to do something I haven't asked anybody to do before. Instead of me having a rah-rah closing thing, would you pray for us to end our time? Would you mind? All

Father Vincent Lampert:
Absolutely.

Brian Tome:
right, great,

Father Vincent Lampert:
I'd be happy to do so.

Brian Tome:
thank you. Thank you.

Father Vincent Lampert:
So we bow our heads and pray. Good and gracious God, we simply want to place ourselves in your presence at this time to thank you for this opportunity to come together today to have this conversation and to recognize that together we are all your children and when we stand more united with one another we have the defense and the strength that we need to defeat whatever the devil may be trying to do in our lives. We ask your blessing upon each and every one of us now and just help us to live out our committed relationship with you and to make sure that you always have your rightful place in our lives. And we make this prayer in the name of Jesus, who is Lord forever and ever. Amen.

Brian Tome:
Amen. Amen. Is there anything you want to do to raise awareness like this, advertise yourself you want here? Have you got any social media accounts, any books, any websites you want people to be aware of? Because a lot of people love to get a hold of those if you have any of those things.

Father Vincent Lampert:
You know, there's some stuff out there on People can find that if they just Google my name or whatever, but really I'm not I don't promote myself to me It's really about promoting God

Brian Tome:
Yeah.

Father Vincent Lampert:
and the importance of having a relationship with Christ. So I'm reminded of the line in Scripture where it says We have done done we are worthless servants. We have done nothing more than we were called to do So to me the ministry is about God, it's really nothing about me

Brian Tome:
Brother, thanks for bringing your A game today, building into us, equipping us, explaining things to us. This has been very, very rich. And I do call you brother, and I call you friend now too. So

Father Vincent Lampert:
Absolutely.

Brian Tome:
sometime I hope we see each other face to face soon and I have some time together. You're a good man, thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Father Vincent Lampert:
And the thing is the Catholic Church does not have a monopoly on exorcism

Brian Tome:
Mm.

Father Vincent Lampert:
Because again Jesus is the main actor and Jesus works wherever he chooses to work within his different churches So I just don't feel like I'm in comp in competition with anyone

Brian Tome:
Amen.

Father Vincent Lampert:
All right.

Brian Tome:
All right, there you heard it, friends. Gosh, I was gonna say I was gonna have some pithy clothes, but I guess I do after

Father Vincent Lampert:
Thank you.

Brian Tome:
that prayer. Hey man, take something you learned today, put it in practice. And one of the things you learned is that Jesus loves you. Yes, he does. And he wants to be in relationship with you. We'll see you next time on The Aggressive Life. The Aggressive Life. Dude, that was great. Man,

Father Vincent Lampert:
Yes.

Brian Tome:
thank you. Thank you for your wisdom. Thank you for your time, your generosity and encouragement. That was one of my favorite hours I've spent on the podcast ever. And I'll see you next time.

Father Vincent Lampert:
And you're in Cincinnati, right?

Brian Tome:
Yes sir.

Father Vincent Lampert:
Yeah, you're about 35 miles from me then.

Brian Tome:
That's

Father Vincent Lampert:
We're

Brian Tome:
right.

Father Vincent Lampert:
not far away. Yeah.

Brian Tome:
Not far,

Father Vincent Lampert:
Yeah.

Brian Tome:
my friend. All right, well, thank you very much. I appreciate you built into the kingdom. All right, bye now. God bless you. Dude, dude, that was freaking great. Dude. That was freaking great.