It’s a practice that dates back thousands of years. It’s also a practice that deeply divides religious denominations in modern times. Some hold it as a sacrament, while others like the Catholic Church view it in the same category as a blessing. The public’s interest in exorcisms surged in the latter half of the 20th century with the popularity of books and movies like The Exorcist. But for leaders at the Lighthouse Church in Wyoming, Delaware, it’s something that everyone should go through to get closer to God.The church has been performing exorcisms for decades in the small Kent County town, but earlier this year, they began teaching their followers how to perform them as well. For this week’s Enlighten Me - Delaware Public Media’s James Dawson sat in on the class to learn more.
[audio:http://www.wdde.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Exorcism-GREEN.mp3|titles= Delaware Public Media's James Dawson visits a Lighthouse Church exorcism class.]
The nondenominational Lighthouse Church is housed in a small building nestled between two homes on Route 15, just across the street from the Wyoming Town Hall.
As you walk up to the church, you’re greeted by a banner calling for people to enlist in “God’s Army” to help eradicate Satan through the church’s teachings.
The chapel area is an intimate space, holding upwards of 40 or 50 people.
Pink and white flowers hang from the wall, as do pictures of Jesus, an Israeli flag and weapons like a broadsword.
About 25 people from around the region attended the first session of the “Training Center for Deliverances” on a humid September night.
For three hours, Christopher Gore, a deliverance minister for the church, spoke about the biblical roots of exorcisms.
Gore says Jesus Christ and his disciples alike would cast out demons, but notes that the practice has fallen out of popularity. Nowadays, people associate fear with exorcism.
“There’s a general lack of education among believers,” he said. “They don’t read their Bible. They are looking for more people to kind of spoon feed them a feel-good message.”
If you’re thinking of a demon randomly inhabiting someone, that’s generally not how it happens, according to Gore.
He says daily stress in life can chip away at your very being, almost creating a landing pad for demonic energy to latch on.
“There are things that happen in life that doesn’t necessarily mean that you automatically get a spirit. But over time with multiple events, there is that one trigger point that just kind of pushes the person over the edge and we call it the ‘one wounding event.’”
And this is where their version of an exorcism veers off from popular depictions.
Gore and the church view exorcisms as almost a therapeutic exercise. He and other leaders block off hours of their day for sessions, which can last from dawn to dusk at times if it’s a particularly difficult case.
It starts with prayer.
Then, deliverance ministers ask about trauma in a person’s past. A history of anguish within their family bloodlines is also important, as Gore says that can be passed on to younger generations.
They also talk about physical and emotional abuse if someone has lived through those experiences.
If that person has a demon within them, Gore says forcing it out can be a difficult process.
“They can be punching, kicking, biting. Obviously, they cuss. When they get in this enraged state, they’re very angry, they’re very upset,” said Gore.
“When these spirits come out to the forefront, they do not like being disturbed. They do not like us coming at them with the power of God trying to set this person free.”
All of it ties to the end of times, which Gore says is upon us.
Rampant drug abuse, increased cancer rates and other public health problems are seen as manifestations of demonic influence in the world, with Jesus soon to return for the faithful.
Gore also credits a 2012 cannibalistic attack in Miami to demonic possession.
“That’s not normal behavior. What would drive someone to do that? It’s not because of an emotional problem. Something jumped into them and caused them to do that.”
Several times during the class, students would shout, ‘Amen,’ or comment on how they had found a church that shared the same specific beliefs as them.
Edel Anders drove from Ocean City, Md. to join the first class.
Previously part of the Catholic faith, Anders says she was skeptical when she first learned of the practice years ago, but didn’t immediately dismiss it.
“As you see people you know and they’re being helped, you reconsider and say, ‘Well, maybe I should pay some attention to this. Just because I don’t understand it at this time, I shouldn’t go against it,’” she said.
Anders has already been a part of community exorcisms.
She says a husband of a friend who had been in a mental institution came to her begging to exorcise his wife.
She and another friend prayed for her over an hour and a half, but didn’t know if it had taken hold until the next day.
“She called me the next day and she said, ‘I am totally free. I cannot express or give you an explanation. I, for the first time, am in my right mind.’”
Another woman from Ocean City named Olga Marcello says she regularly goes through deliverances and has taken at least seven of her friends to sessions as well.
After the first class, visitors from Virginia and even Texas have flown in to join.
This is all in stark contrast to how the Catholic Church views exorcisms.
To Catholics, it’s a very rare and private process that takes months, if not years to get approved and has to be performed by a qualified priest.
You have to first show that someone isn’t suffering from mental illness that may act in an unnatural way.
Then, it’s a matter of getting the presiding bishop of the local diocese to sign off on it.
It’s off base to view drug abuse and things like it as demonic forces strengthening their grip on the mortal world, according to Robert Krebs, a spokesman for the Diocese of Wilmington.
“If you are addicted to drugs, definitely pray, have people pray for you, but see a drug addiction councilor,” said Krebs. “You wouldn’t see an exorcist for that.”
He wouldn’t say whether any exorcisms had been requested or performed recently in the area.
The subject grabbed national headlines in January as two Maryland women were indicted for killing two young children during what police say was an exorcism ritual.
Zakieya Avery – the mother of the children – and Monifa Sanford were arrested in January in Germantown, Md. after police responding to a 911 call found a bloody scene at Avery’s townhome. Avery’s two older children survived repeated stab wounds.
Sanford was found to be legally insane at the time of the attacks, according to the Washington Post. Avery’s mental evaluation hasn’t been made public.
“Something was just off about the whole thing,” said Gore, noting that he didn’t know the specific details of the event, as he wasn’t present.
“Things got out of hand and they should’ve just stopped on whatever they were doing and sought more help.”
He says that representation of the act cast a negative light on what he calls real exorcisms.
A trial for Sanford is set for April.
Classes at the Lighthouse Church will run through March, with Gore planning to offer more advanced classes in the future.
Krebs says it wouldn’t be appropriate for him to comment on what a non-Catholic church was doing in regard to the practice.
But he warned that it could be detrimental for inexperienced or aspiring exorcists should they begin to clash with the supernatural.
“When you are dabbling in evil and Satan and demons, you have to be very careful. Very careful,” he said.
“It’s not for those who are untrained or unqualified because there is evil in this universe.”