Re: Child Excorcisms in African Churches in London, UK
Date: September 27, 2009 07:09AM
Hello :)
Is it you who wanted to discuss it over pm or would your friend discuss it with me or both of you? Feel free to pm me any time. But I will explain some of it here also, as much as I feel comfortable explaining. Must just warn anyone who reads this and has been affected by deliverance ministries or exorcism or any similar religious ritual they might find it upsetting to read.
******If you don't want to read content about exorcism/deliverance please stop reading now********
What I remember I think is called "deliverance from evil spirits" rather than exorcism, which involves holy water and can only be carried out by appointed people. Deliverance in the church I belonged to can be performed by any group of Christians usually under the guidance of a so-called "spiritually gifted" person or "spiritual authority" (someone who has the gift of prophecy, can speak in tongues, etc).
If anybody at the church was ill, experiencing stress, behaving badly in some way, rebelling etc, they were seen as having been influenced by evil spirits, which controlled them through various degrees up to full-blown possession. It was said that the devil could have no hold on a person who was "filled with the Holy Spirit", so "Deliverance Ministries" use two methods - trying to drive out the evil spirit and trying to fill a person with the Holy Spirit.
Deliverance was not one specific ritual but a scale of different techniques for different types of "evil". At the lower, most common end, all church meetings were conducted with the aim of getting the Holy Spirit to "fill" the congregation. So that's what I'll start by explaining.
Music would play - guitars and keyboards etc - and we'd sing modern hymns (think U2's "with or without you" but more religious, corny and with less musical talent!). Then at some point the singing would stop but the music continued repeating the same few bars. There would often be lights that flashed or moved in a particular rhythm. At this point usually a church Elder (of which there were a few) would start preaching/praying over the congregation/calling to the Holy Spirit in rhythm to the music with his arms raised poetically saying things like: "We feel your presence here, oh Lord. Fill us with your Holy Spirit...we give ourselves to you! Let us hear only Your Word so that we may cast out all evil and conquer Satan in Jesus' name"...etc. This would be accompanied by erm...what can only be described as orgasmic sounds coming from the congregation ("Oh yes Lord! We love you Father!" and other things that are just too cringe-worthy to write down). Everyone would have their arms in the air and people would speak in tongues. If you haven't heard of tongues it's where the Holy Spirit supposedly speaks through you and makes you talk gibberish (without meaning to offend anyone who practices speaking in tongues...). Often the preacher would have the congregation chanting the same word or phrase over and over.
Basically, whatever the Preacher said, went. If he said God had spoken to him and told him that he wished for everyone to do a forward roll and then try and balance on their head, that's what everyone would do. I remember once a preacher saying that God wanted us to dance in a circle around the church building and that's what everyone did! Also an Elder saying God wanted all the women to come to the front and kneel before him...!? And other bizarre, freaky stuff that is just too weird for me to write here.
Sometimes it would be made known that a particular person was struggling with something, it could be illness, sadness, anger, listening to Rock Music, owning something that was to do with fairies, not conforming to the wishes of the Elders, etc (or something the Elders just decided to make up). This person would be surrounded by people who would all lay their hands on the person. If there were too many people, you would lay your hands on someone laying their hands on the person etc, the idea being that your spiritual energy could pass from you, through the person in front of you and into the person "afflicted by sin/influenced by evil spirits". Then all the chanting, speaking in tongues, orgasmic cries/shouts and preaching from the Elder/s would be directed at the one person. This often had a very strange effect. Most often the person would just fall over. This was supposedly a sign of the Holy Spirit moving through them and filling them.
Often the attention of the worship would turn to someone who reacted in certain ways during the service. For example, someone might start shaking, laughing hysterically, crying, screaming or having some other kind of emotional outburst. Then hands would be laid on the person, and if they were struggling they would be held down whilst the Elders, along to the congregations orgasmic cries, commanded Satan to leave them and the Holy Spirit to fill them. Again, whatever the Elders said, went. If they said the person should be held upside down by the ankles and shook, that's what they'd do. After all this was a "Spiritual Authority" who was hearing the word of God.
I remember a woman becoming hysterical and crying and screaming during a service saying she was frightened of the evil spirits and they were haunting her nightmares etc. Members of the congregation were instructed to pin her to the floor by the ankles and wrists while she struggled. Then as she lay on the floor people laid their hands on her, slapped her in the face, held her head still by pulling her hair, her clothes got ripped, she was knelt on, restrained by the throat, her shoes were taken off, her head was banged on the floor and she was bruised and cut in the struggle. Everyone was chanting and shouting for Satan to leave her. Eventually she became tired and stopped struggling and screaming. Then the Elder declared that she had been successfully delivered from an evil spirit and everyone "rejoiced"!
I remember experiencing many similar things, though the order of events is confused as I was a child. I remember being pinned down and having weird convulsions - which I now think were caused by anxiety/panic attacks - and my Dad (who was an Elder) with his hand on my head telling Satan to leave me. My head was hitting the floor and people were holding my arms and legs so tight they bruised. My clothes were removed.
People were encouraged to hit their children, preferably with a stick. This was said to drive out evil spirits also. I remember if one of the kids in my household had done something wrong and they didn't know who'd done it, we were all repeatedly beaten until the evil spirit of deception left us and one of us owned up or accused another. This often lead to me lying and blaming one of the others, or saying I was to blame when I wasn't. This sort of "discipline" was encouraged in the church.
There were also times when bible stories were acted out, and we were made to participate and instructed on what to do. Some of those were disturbing but I won't mention them here.
There are other things, both involving the church as a large group and as a small group in my Family home. But they are quite disturbing and I feel ashamed to write them here.
How did I get out? Well, luckily, I was shunned when I was about 14ish. I began to have mental health problems and injured myself by cutting and burning my arms and hitting myself and listening to the evil Rock Music. This, of course, was seen as some sort of possession. But whatever methods they tried I could not be "delivered". So my parents became too ashamed to take me to church and I was viewed as a reprobate/backslider who was beyond redemption and would be punished by God. I spent years afterwards believing I was a bad, evil sinner and I would go to hell. I don't believe that any more but I still have mental health problems as a result of my upbringing.
Sorry this has got so long but it's been quite cathartic in some way getting it all out in written words.
If there's anything else you'd like to know or anything I can help with, please pm me and I'll see what I can do.