When Jesus appointed his apostles, they were (in the words of Mark 3:15) “to have authority to cast out demons,” as Jesus himself was able to do. Today, as reported in the popular press, there are those who believe they have such power, others who have doubts and still others who egregiously misuse and abuse this New Testament doctrine.
As part of “the power and vitality of the Christian movement in Africa,” it is reported that “Christian ministers in Zimbabwe are regularly casting out demons and bringing healing, stability and comfort to people of all ages.”
Wayne W. Bos, writing in Alberta’s Red Deer Express, provides a graphic firsthand account of his role as an exorcist “under the auspices of ‘Do What Jesus Did’”: “The anointing oil drips from my right index finger as I sign the cross upon a woman’s forehead. The demons scream and yell ‘nooooooo’ and shake her head.” For Bos, “witchcraft” is synonymous with a demon, and J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series constitutes “one of the fiercest promotions of witchcraft.” Equally memorable is this description of demons by “full-time exorcist” Sharon Seevinck (as narrated in The Salt Lake Tribune): “If a house has a cockroach in it, the house is not possessed by that cockroach. I see demons as irritations, squatters that are not supposed to be there.”
Descriptions of demon possession often parallel symptoms associated with mental or other illness. Thus, a correspondent for Newfoundland’s St. John’s Telegram concludes that in Biblical times (and perhaps also today) “priests tried to cure people [exhibiting signs of epilepsy] by driving the demons out.”
Individual examples of what I might term “abusive casting out of demons” range from the terrifying to the ludicrous. The Associated Press reported a harrowing occurrence that took place in an Assemblies of Jesus Church in Bristol, Tennessee. Two sisters, aged 46 and 64, entered the church at the start of services to tell their 88-year-old mother that the younger of them was going to have surgery. The preacher charged off the pulpit toward the pants-clad duo, screaming, “You’re not wearing pants in my church, you demon.” He went on: “I got all the demons out of my church, and I want you out.” To this tirade, one of the accosted women replied, “I’m glad I serve a God who can work through my pants” and “I don’t believe you’ve got all the demons out yet.” No matter how the judge finds in this case—assault charges were filed all around—there can be little doubt that the pastor failed to live up to his name: Rev. (Clarence June) Love.
Even this may not be the last word, for sports remains a pristine enclave in which demons may justly thrive. Thus, we read in Australia’s The Hill Shire Times that the Pennant Hills Demons, who were “never threatened” in their last outing, “sit on top of the Sydney AFL ladder.” And the Georgetown Hoyas performed an “exorcism” of their own when they “cast out the No. 1 Blue Devils of Duke,” thereby simultaneously “shaking off any lingering demons” about their own basketball program, according to Georgetown University’s The Hoya. But perhaps one more report from Australia will succeed in making things right after all; in Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph a sports headline trumpets “the Demons’ first defeat of the season” with these words: “Demons Dismantled as Slick Saints End Golden Run.” Take that, you demons and devils!
When Jesus appointed his apostles, they were (in the words of Mark 3:15) “to have authority to cast out demons,” as Jesus himself was able to do. Today, as reported in the popular press, there are those who believe they have such power, others who have doubts and still others who egregiously misuse and abuse this New Testament doctrine. As part of “the power and vitality of the Christian movement in Africa,” it is reported that “Christian ministers in Zimbabwe are regularly casting out demons and bringing healing, stability and comfort to people of all ages.” Wayne W. Bos, […]
You have already read your free article for this month. Please join the BAS Library or become an All Access member of BAS to gain full access to this article and so much more.
