a Christian family goes on vacation, buys some trinkets and comes home. bad things start happening to them and they are told that one of their trinkets is cursed and to destroy it, so they destroy it and the bad things stop.
I think we have all heard of stories like this. No cursed object has any power over Christ and thus should have no power over us, his followers. We shouldn't be looking for these things but I'm always perplexed by these accounts. Christ has authority over all things, including said objects, so why do these stories come up? What power is being manifested in these objects and why does it have an effect over some Christians?
After the rite of Exorcism has taken place - the possessed having been delivered - the very next step the priest takes is to assess from the delivered what - if any - new material(s) had been brought into their home since they began experiencing the manifestation.
They then pray prescribed prayers over the item(s) and burn them or lock them away...
Yes, this is very real. Please read: …11 "God did extraordinary miracles through the hands of Paul, 12
so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and the diseases and evil spirits left them." - Acts 19:12
Here you have a Biblical reference to what we in the Catholic Faith refer to as "relics". This would be evidence for what we would call 2nd class relics. Here God was using them to perform miracles.
There are three classes of relics. You will have to do some study into this if you find it interesting... The reason I bring it up though is to simply point to the fact that preternatural events at times are linked to physical items, clothing, a painting, a watch, etc.
History has shown us that this is occurring on both sides, of good and evil.
The "trinket" or "idol" indeed is nothing, but that which is unseen and potentially connected to it, or even bound to, is.
1 Corinthians 10:19-20
19 What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20
No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons.