Demonic Possession in Zombie Attack?

UPDATE June 27 MMXII
The results are in. The autopsy reveals that Eugene, the face eater, "was apparently not high on bath salts or any other exotic street drug at the time of the attack." He could still have been on some unknown drug for which there exist no forensic tests. But this finding leads us to the conclusion which we suggested earlier: that "if no drugs were found, possession may be the only explanation."
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The face-eater, Rudy Eugene, allegedly growled at police after being shot and, of course, tried to eat a living homeless man zombie-style. Given the disturbing nature of these events, something more than drugs may have been influencing him.

Many have speculated that a drug referred to as bath salts was responsible. Others claim it was Zanex or a combination of things.

But his girlfriend maintains that he was a decent man who did not do drugs: a man who watched televangelist Creflo Dollar every morning and was good with her children. Additionally, a Bible was found in his car.

However, famous exorcist Fr Malachi Martin contends that even seemingly religious people such as priests can become possessed.

Eugene's girlfriend believes he was drugged by somebody, but as we stated earlier, it seems even a drug could not make someone act just like a zombie. More believably, a drug may have set the stage for a demon to manifest itself in him and make him behave like a zombie.

Malachi Martin also stated that no one can be possessed against his will. Rudy Eugene may well have explicitly allowed some being to possess him and may not have used drugs.

But if drugs were involved, he still could have been possessed, but only if he willingly took them. The reason, according to Pastor Joe Schimmel, an expert on how drugs can be a gateway to demonic possession, is that when one willingly takes drugs, he chooses to open up his will to the influence of the drug, and by virtue of this, the drug may accept the demon on his behalf. Schimmel notes that the founder of LSD experienced psychedelic feelings by accidentally absorbing the drug but did not experience what is called the "LSD demon". He experienced this demon only when he purposefully took LSD so he could enter an altered state of consciousness.

This is a very interesting idea, that there are indirect methods by which someone can accept possession through accepting something else that subverts the will to a drug. Schimmel notes that this occurs when sorcerers take things in order to experience another level of consciousness and connect with the spirit realm. One example of this is the use of peyote by Indians in traditional shamanic practices. According to Schimmel, drugs can function much like a ouija board would in terms of being a gateway to the demonic, as long as the person is looking for it.

Schimmel puts a new wrinkle on things by comparing the decision to experience a heightened reality through drug use to Adam and Eve's decision to eat the forbidden fruit and gain knowledge of good and evil. Just as Adam and Eve disobeyed God, so also drug users disobey God's will that they be sober and not indulge in pharmacia, which Schimmel points out is a cognate to sorcery, and those who practice sorcery will not enter the Kingdom of God according to the apostle Paul. Yet, whereas Adam and Eve fell from grace from eating forbidden fruit, drug users participate in an even greater evil that leads them not only to fall from grace but to become possessed.

However, Malachi Martin contends that there is no known criteria by which someone can be prone to becoming possessed. If drugs were a serious gateway, we would expect Martin to say drug addicts were much more likely to become possessed. It should be noted that despite being an experienced exorcist, Martin held some heterodox views on possession, including that people can become what he termed perfectly possessed.

But if someone were in a state of grace as Catholics say, or had Jesus in his heart as protestants say, then one would obviously be incapable of being possessed since a demon cannot reside where Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit is active. As long as the person wills it to be with Christ then the demon cannot possess him. But if a person doesn't have Christ in his heart, he can become possessed but only if he accepts possession.

If it is true that one can become possessed through ceding his will to a drug, then the act of doing so necessarily rids one of having Jesus Christ in one's heart and opens one up to possession. This is why the Bible forbids pharmacia, or use of mind altering drugs. Since drugs take over the will for a long period of time, it is possible that during this time the person cannot stop himself from doing what any would-be demon wants since his will is gone. And if he were possessed after taking drugs, he had to have taken them willingly.

Malachi Martin notes that there are a variety of demons and that each have specified functions. Could there be some sort of zombie demon out there? And if so, why haven't there been previous reports of such incidents? Could the demon have gotten the idea from a zombie movie, or could a demon have actually inspired the idea of there being a zombie, and then fulfilled it?

There is the possibility that there was no demonic possession involved. Could the abundance of zombie movies have affected Rudy Eugene somehow? Did he watch too many of them? Did whatever drug he was taking lead him to believe he was a zombie, and Did he find the prospect delightful?

Another interesting theory is that some drugs subvert the will more than others. Some are more conducive to possession than others. Could certain drugs always induce demonic possession? Could it be a sort of possession that is totally contingent on the presence of the drug? Would this necessarily be possession then, or simply a profound effect of a drug?

Only an autopsy can answer whether drugs were involved, but potential demonic possession must be left up to speculation. If no drugs were found, possession may be the only explanation. If drugs are found, then it is still a possibility.

Regardless, this incident may be a sign that the public needs to take a break from drugs and zombie movies for a while, or at the very least not combine the two.