An ex-cop is on a fascinating mission to fight a truly sinister villain: spiritual evil.
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Chris DeFlorio, a former officer with the New York Police Department, is using his investigative skills to help people who believe they’re facing ills from the demonic realm.
DeFlorio and his wife Harmony run New York Demonic Investigation, an organization that seeks to explore these potential scenarios.
“It wasn’t until I pretty much focused full-time into this area, which we’ll call demonology, through the church, [that] I started to try to differentiate … the secondary evil that I was seeing on the street in human beings,” he told Billy Hallowell for a forthcoming episode of the “Playing With Fire” podcast. “And then [I wondered], ‘What’s behind that? There, there must be a primary evil.'”
That’s when DeFlorio began to take a Bible-based approach to try and understand wickedness — a path that led him to apply his law enforcement skills to demonology and the biblical understanding of the manifestation of evil.
Watch DeFlorio discuss his incredible journey:
Harmony DeFlorio explained the roots of New York Demonic Investigation were set in 2009, when the family became Christians and almost immediately launched a homelessness ministry.
On Chris’ NYPD shifts, he started talking to the homeless and trying to help them out. Harmony also took part in the outreach.
“We would give toys, and we would make sandwiches and things like that,” Harmony said. “And then it just grew where we would go out and preach the Gospel.”
Chris, who charges nothing for his spiritual services, said they believe God put it on their hearts to engage in these outreaches.
“It just grew over the years,” he said of the effort. “I would sit on the cardboard with [the homeless and] talk with them, sharing Jesus.”
Things changed for Chris when he felt called to Africa and encountered a man who some thought was having a seizure. But as a former paramedic, he knew something was off.
“I’ve seen thousands of seizures,” he said. “And something spiritually was going on at that moment. I looked at the man having this episode, and it was kind of like we locked eyes.”
He continued, “And, at that moment, I’m telling you … that’s the first time I felt I came face-to-face with pure evil.”
Chris said the man’s eyes were blackened and the entire experience shook him to his core. When he got home, he started researching spiritual matters and learning more about the demonic realm.
Soon, he got involved in what he calls a “tangible battle,” fighting evil through prayer and the Bible. Harmony said she was initially scared for the family to get into spiritual warfare but that they ended up trusting God, clinging to the Gospel, and jumping right in.
“Chris is a deep thinker and, before he jumps into anything, he will study and he will go from book to book and learn everything about it,” she said. “So, I knew for him to take this seriously, he’s going to learn everything about it.”
The couple receives numerous calls for help every day from across the U.S.
When people reach out, Chris does an extensive analysis, taking into account medical backgrounds, how long purported issues have been unfolding, and then a two to three-hour interview on the phone.
He said one of the most critical elements is pinpointing how evil was invited into a situation.
“I want to really dive deep into this and … see what that invitation was, because there’s always an invitation,” Chris said. “It doesn’t just happen. It can be from somebody else, from you. There’s a multitude of ways this happens. So, I want to know what I’m dealing with.”
After Chris works with individuals and families to combat evil through so-called “minor exorcisms,” he connects them to a private Facebook group where they can learn and “grow in the Lord.”
“It’s a private group. It’s basically a safe group for them,” he said. “And I take them through the Bible … it’s very important that the people understand this is the battle between God and the devil.”
Find out more about New York Demonic Investigation here and watch the full interview for incredible stories of restoration and spiritual warfare.
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