I once said something, with regard to this subject, in an interview I did several years ago, that I see now might have been confusing, and that I would like to clarify here, even if no one reads it, for at least then I will have tried to amend what I consider no small error. In that interview, while attempting to draw a distinction between demonic possession and mental illness, I described the former as a situation where “maleficent spiritual beings take possession of one’s body, in order that they might have one’s soul for eternity.” While the beginning of that sentence is true, the final clause is not necessarily true. For to be possessed by a demon, through no fault of one’s own (or, anyway, without any collusion that could be described as intentional, or premeditated) is to have no culpability, and to be blameless in the eyes of God. In other words, the diabolic powers do not always have jurisdiction over such a soul, even if the person dies while in the throes of possession. It might even be better to say that those powers rarely, if ever, have that jurisdiction.