and exorcism

Struthers Memorial Church and exorcism

The Struthers Memorial Church website, though much reduced, still carries the following Statement of Belief:

	We believe in: • The inspiration of scripture • The need for personal Salvation through faith in Christ • The Baptism in the Holy Spirit with signs following • The need for holiness in the church and in the individual lives of the believers • The gifts of the Holy Spirit as listed in 1 Cor 12: wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues, interpretation • The ministry of deliverance

Struthers Memorial Church have never pretended to believe the same things as the majority of mainstream Pentecostals. In fact they have often expressed great pride in the fact that they do not. They believe God has revealed more to them than he has to most other, less informed, Christians. They claim this has not been achieved through structured study or learning but by spiritual revelation to the leaders. Some of these beliefs, and the practices resulting from those beliefs, are very uncommon in the Christian world. But they have never attempted to hide that. One of these more uncommon practices is what they refer to in their statement of beliefs as “the ministry of deliverance”. In many of their sermons and services they are quite specific about the long held belief of the SMC leadership that Christians can be possessed and controlled by demonic evil spirits and they claim they have power to perform exorcisms on Christians. Those who are producing these articles also believe the bible speaks about the ministry of deliverance and the bible makes it clear that there are ways of people involving themselves in exorcism and deliverance which are correct, Godly and Christ-like; and there are also ways that people get involved in this area and do it wrongly.
So hopefully no one familiar with the bible would dispute that it says that there can be deliverance ministry which is being operated within the guidelines Jesus gives; and there can be deliverance ministry which does not. From New Testament times both have been a possibility in the real world. It is perfectly reasonable therefore for us to look at what happens in SMC and try to match it up with biblical examples and guidelines to enable us to evaluate what is happening. In the UK at the moment there is a strong and, in our view, entirely valid focus on what churches who claim to be involved in exorcism are doing. In particular the Laming Inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbie http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200203/cmselect/cmhealth/570/570.pdf has shown that the unhealthy obsession with demons in Christians, and in children, is a dangerous phenomenon which we do not believe is confined to London churches with African roots. For that reason if SMC leaders suggest it is not appropriate for us, or any of their members, to take an interest in what is happening in this area - and in what they call deliverance - we would see that as both sinister and irresponsible. The lesson of recent public cases for the church in 2012 is that all activity a church engages in should be done in a way that is open to scrutiny and built around clear, enforceable guidelines. These guidelines must be part of the training of everyone in church working or praying with children, adults and the vulnerable. People not operating according to the published guidelines must be challenged and if necessary stopped. These guidelines - the content of which should be publicly available - should include details of what safeguards and controls are in place. There should be a public list of who the leadership have decided has permission to be involved in exorcisms. And all people involved should long ago have received training about what is and is not acceptable in deliverance ministry in Struthers Memorial Church. If this cannot be guaranteed then we believe all such exorcism and deliverance “ministry” should cease immediately until it can be conducted in a way which does not lead to people being harmed. Despite the still unexplained removal of 3 years of SMC sermon recordings from any public scrutiny we still have many sources of information about what happens in SMC. We have the huge number of books which the church had printed, at great expense, between 1988 and 2002. Hugh Black's book – Reflections on the Gifts of the Spirit contains a detailed outline of his (and therefore presumably the Struthers Memorial Church) view of exorcism. We also have access to many sermon recordings which, although they are now not available to the public, were for many years and we have many CDs containing SMC attempts at teaching. And most significantly now we have vast number and range of testimonies to some of the problems caused to people by the way "deliverance" and other ministries have operated in Struthers Memorial Church. However it is important that we do not just focus on what is happening in SMC but seek to understand that in the context of what the bible teaches about demons and exorcists.
FOUR POINTS THE BIBLE MAKES IN RELATION TO DELIVERANCE
With that as a background this article seeks to make 4 important points about deliverance ministry – four points which are so important our Heavenly Father chose to include them in the bible. This same bible Struthers rightly regard as inspired - though they don't always show a careful application of that inspired word to the teachings coming from their pulpits; or the actions coming from their leaders. These important biblical points are the main teaching the bible gives on deliverance from demons though we realise many ministries moving in this realm claim additional knowledge of spiritual happenings not available to the wider church and not having its source from the bible. These 4 points are based on clear biblical incidents and clear teaching from Jesus himself about deliverance and exorcism – both in what He says and in how He demonstrates deliverance from demons is to operate within the church. What these teachings flag up is that it is possible there are Biblical issues with the way Struthers do it:
1	In biblical cases of exorcism there is always an outward sign of demon possession
In biblical cases it is never necessary to discern demon possession in a person who is unaware they have a problem. In the bible it never occurs in someone without them, and everyone around them, knowing there is something serious and terrible wrong. There is always external, visible evidence. Biblical examples: Matt 8.28 two demon possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent no none could pass that way Matt 9.32 While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.” Matt 12.22 Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. Luke 8.29 For Jesus had commanded the impure spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places.
In the book: “Demon possession – a set of case histories edited by John Warwick Montgomery” Bethany House 1976 we are given a very measured study of recorded and documented cases of demon possession. There is a description of observed external issues relating to cases of real or claimed demon possession which match up very closely to the biblical examples from the gospels of Matthew, Luke and Mark.
	Page 347 lists the following characteristics seen in cases of demon possession: change of personality including intelligence, moral character, demeanour, appearance physical changes unnatural strength, convulsions, foaming, catatonic symptoms, falling, impervious to pain, changed voice mental changes understanding unknown languages, preternatural knowledge, psychic and occult powers spiritual changes reaction to and fear of Christ, blasphemy with regret as in depression, affected by prayer. the possibility of deliverance (only observable after the fact)
These characteristics are observed worldwide and consistent with biblical phenomena.
We now have many examples in the public domain where a young person, raised in Struthers Church approached the leaders for help and advice. When they speak to a Struthers leader they have been told that that leader perceives/discerns that they “have a demonic or unclean spirit”. This despite the fact of the absence of the full range and in many cases any of the symptoms of demon possession recorded in the bible. This means the problem the person is dealing with is not demonic in any biblical sense. Of course the SMC leaders sometimes claim to know better than the bible and do not see a need to be limited by what it teaches and allows. This is not coming from the correct operation of discernment - this is coming from an unhealthy and deeply unhelpful obsession among the Struthers leadership with demons in Christians. If the culture of a church leadership tries to shoe-horn every genuine problem and enquiry – from young and old, and from non Christians and Christians alike - as needing to be addressed using their favourite deliverance ministry they will likely be wrong most of the time; and do damage much of the time.
We note the words of the founder of SMC as she is quoted in the book “A Trumpet call to Women” page131 It is never wise to concentrate too much on the realm of darkness. I never do. Dwell in light – think of pure things. Let God deal with Satan. Never become entangled in his doings. Nor is it wise to speak too much of his activities. It can darken an atmosphere and concentrate attention on him, which he loves. Perhaps SMC should more closely follow the advice of its own founder.
There is clear distinction in the bible between those that were sick and those that were demon possessed. There is no attempt to conflate the two conditions. All the people the bible identified as being dealt with by Jesus as demon possessed had very serious and unmistakable manifestations of that condition. In every case of demon possession in the bible - that the person has a problem is obvious even to those with no “spiritual” insight into its cause. The use of discernment in this ministry may have relevance when there is need to distinguish between a medical situation – such as someone having an epileptic fit in a meeting – with a spiritual manifestation God is seeking to deal with at that time. But in biblical cases the gift of discernment is never the way a problem is identified of demon possession in an otherwise well and untroubled Christian. Certainly not in the bible. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to bring conviction of sin where it is required John 16.8. It is not acceptable for a church leader, no matter how highly they regard their infallibility, to usurp the role of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life. Not even when that leader thinks God is not moving quickly enough to convince someone of a sin (which is so obvious to them), or because that leader is “so holy” they can see something the person is not yet being shown by God. Least of all because that leader is keen to be seen regularly in public as a powerful exorcist and have people testify to what God is doing through their ministry. Jesus often told people to tell no one what had happened to them through Him. We think that Christ-like approach would be healthy for the leaders of SMC to try. Struthers leader - how would that work for you? What would it be like if nothing God did through you was testified to publicly in meetings you ran; and in which you choose the testimonies? Imagine nothing being said from the platform of your own church which testified to your closeness to God or your blessed ministry. Or is the need for people to be "encouraged" the pure and only reason you put people up who will testify to the things God does through you? We have no doubt people understand well enough how these things work in SMC.
2	Blame for failure in deliverance
The first example of an exorcism failure is in Acts 19:13-17 NIV Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. This passage gives clear indication that to call yourself an exorcist does not equate to being one. It might also raise questions on the wider (yet very relevant) topic of whether people should be getting involved in ministry opportunities chiefly because their parents had leadership in some part of the work before them. If this biblical example is anything to go by that does not seem to end well.
The second example of an exorcism failure is in Mark 9:17-20, 28-29 KJV Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.” He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.” Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. .....And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.” In this case Jesus tells the disciples their failings clearly. It is their lack of adequate preparedness for this ministry that is leaving this boy unhelped. They need to amend their approach and mend their ways or the child will stay in its dreadful and life threatening condition. Jesus does not blame the boy, the parent or society. He could not more clearly state that the failure of the exorcism - until He got involved - was 100% the fault and failing of those trying to operate in this ministry but getting it wrong. They did not spend enough time in prayer and fasting to be effective in this case. No blame at all is attached to the parent or the son coming with their need. Those who have been recipients of alleged deliverance ministry by people from Struthers need to hear this clear teaching from the bible, note it and never forget it. The message to those who were subject to this “ministry” is very clear. Jesus does not blame you for the failures of the SMC exorcists. They sought to blame you (and many others) when on many occasions no deliverance took place. As a result people with no demonic problem whatsoever left these prayer sessions full of guilt, fear, failure and in many reported cases nightmares for years after. We have received many letters testifying to this – some from those who were children at the time the Struthers exorcists failed them. These hurt people need to know today – this passage of the bible teaches God does not blame you. He blames them. They needed to be better prepared before involving you in this ministry. But they were too reliant on their own belief that any prejudiced notion they got about you was God giving them discenment. Then when no deliverance happened they chose not to look to the bible for the true source of that failure - that they were not sufficiently committed to prayer and disciplined preparation. Instead they took the easy way for themselves and claimed the failure of their ministry was your fault. Yet according to Mark 19.29 Jesus does not blame you. In no case of exorcism in the bible – NO CASE - is the person coming for ministry blamed for the failure of that ministry. This is something made up by those wanting to shift the blame from where the bible places it. People sometimes get involved in exorcism because people seeing them involved in it is a public and visible testimony to their importance in the church. Lots of people coming to them makes them feel valuable and good about themselves. But if you want to be an exorcist then meet the biblical requirements, follow the biblical patterns of preparation and conduct – or do not be an exorcist. If you do not have the personal discipline to fast and pray sufficiently so that this ministry always succeeds (as it did not for the disciples but did for Jesus) – there is no need to. Stop doing it and this requirement ceases. How often have the present Struthers exorcists missed sufficient meals to prepare themselves for a ministry time with no failure in it? Perhaps they would like to tell us?
When exorcisms fail in the bible in each case the reason is given that the person operating the deliverance ministry is the source of the problem. The bible presents only 3 possibilities: The exorcist has a lack of faith The exorcist needs to come to this ministry time more prepared through prayer and fasting The “exorcist” is attempting to involve themselves in a ministry for which they have no calling, authority or gifting. In all the time we were involved in SMC, in all the testimonies now available online, and in all the sermons we ever heard not one of these 3 biblical reasons were ever given by the leaders of SMC for someone failing to be delivered from a demon. The one and only reason ever given – both privately to the person and publicly when explaining a deliverance failure from the pulpit - is that if a demon failed to appear, or be driven out, then that was because the person being prayed for did not sufficiently want that to happen. (As ever - we are happy to consider any evidence people would like to provide if they believe this is not the case. All the evidence currently available to the public says it is the case.) And this is entirely consistent with the thrust of SMC teaching in other areas. In essence they claim their teaching, leadership and ministry are virtually always fully adequate and fully correct. Rare hints that they make mistakes are never followed up with actual examples – far less apologies. And similarly in deliverance ministry there is no room given to the possibility of any of the biblical reasons for the failure of that ministry. Rather than looking to the bible they rely on special extra knowledge - discerned by the failing exorcists themselves - that contradicts the bible. We now have many, many testimonies to failed deliverance ministry - often, bizarrely, for sins and spiritual conditions the person being prayed for was not aware of - but those who claimed “discernment” in SMC bullied them into accepting they needed deliverance from. The message to the confused and hurting victims of their “ministry” is “you are the problem for the failure of this exorcism - not us”. Yet in the bible, and according to Jesus, failed exorcisms are only ever the fault of those attempting and failing to successfully perform them.
3	Children and deliverance ministry
Jesus gives an excellent, truly perfect, example of how to deal with a child who is exhibiting external manifestation of having a demon. Matt 15.22 and the same story in Mark 7.26 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.” .........Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.
He cast it out and the child was immediately set free. We notice: 1 at no point was the child exposed to any teaching about its need (or a general need) for deliverance 2 at no point was the child required to analyse or understand their own plight - far less tell a leader what horrendous and shaming sins they might be guilty of which might have caused a demon to be there 3 the child did not even have to be present and involved in a prayer scrum of any description. Far less one where their attitude would be called into question and they would possibly be blamed for whether the deliverance ministry worked or not. Jesus had the power to cast out demons. That is what he did. There was no requirement on behalf of the child whatsoever. The presence of the God given ministry was the only requirement. Christ-like. The way Jesus did it.
We have received many e-mails from people with a range of negative experiences of SMC. An alarming number of these speak about children under 16 either being prayed with for deliverance; or being scared to the core of their beings by the thoughtless and careless determination of the SMC leadership to teach and preach the likelihood of the casual demon possession of Christians – including children. That children raised in Christian homes, and often seeking in their young hearts to do their best for God, are likely to become demon possessed is not a claim supported by the bible. Yet children such as these have shared that they were terrified by these teachings and some were openly accused of being demon possessed by those leading SMC churches. That this was ever allowed to happen in SMC is the fault and responsibility of those in leadership. In particular it has been the fault of the company directors. They have been unbelievably foolish and stupid, selfish, self indulgent and deeply irresponsible. The terror that was birthed in the young people who sat under the preaching they allowed has no supernatural source. It was simply that they listened to and understood the obsessive and compulsive determination from the SMC pulpit to drive exorcism, and fear of the demonic, to the centre of church life. Every conference and camp and many Saturday night meetings the subject of the need for Christians in the congregations to have deliverance from demon possession has been pushed so hard it has in some cases psychologically damaged people. These spiritually abused people have exhibited no biblically recorded signs or symptoms of demon oppression and many, once they are removed from the unhealthy environs of SMC, grow into healthy and effective servants of God. Real gifts and ministries now abound and the damage of the past is able to be mended as the power of the blood of Jesus, the concept of grace, and a Father God's love and protection is given its right place in the mind and heart of the Christian. In all but a tiny number of cases (of real loss of control or serious addiction) no deliverance was needed. And no one in the wider Christian world, other than the self appointed, untrained and totally unaccountable exorcists of SMC ever claimed it was.
4	What the Bible teaches about religious leaders making frequent accusations of demon possession
Attempts to diagnose problems as having a demonic source are not always correct. The person in the bible most often accused of being demon possessed was Jesus. John 7.20 “You are demon-possessed,” the crowd answered. “Who is trying to kill you?” John 8.48 & 49 The Jews answered him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?” “I am not possessed by a demon,” said Jesus, “but I honor my Father and you dishonor me. John 8.52 At this they exclaimed, “Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that whoever obeys your word will never taste death. John 10.19 - 21 The Jews who heard these words were again divided. Many of them said, “He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?” But others said, “These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” The person in the bible most often accused of being demon possessed was Jesus. This accusation always and only came from religious leaders who believed they were the only ones really close to God. The reason they did this was so that they could ignore what Jesus was saying and so that nothing in their comfortable convenient religious lives - with them in charge - would have to change.
There are many valid and powerful comparisons between the Pharisees and the leaders of Struthers Memorial Church – the unaccountable and religious, in charge because they claim they are special in God's eyes, neglecting to be servants to the people but instead tying heavy burdens of rules and guilt onto people's backs. Religious leaders, who feel their power over the people is being threatened, often try to cement their own power by claiming they must be regarded as having authority and special knowledge of God. And like the Pharisees they call those who call into question their sense of privilege “demon possessed”. If you have been accused of this by the leadership of SMC – and many have testified that this accusation was made against them – at least you are in good company. Jesus, it seems, stands with you as someone accused - not against you as your accuser. In fact Jesus in the bible is not shown to blame anyone for their being demon possessed - he just sets them free. There is never any time spent on guilting the person or obliging them to confess to any sin that supposedly caused them to be possessed as a prerequisite to deliverance being granted. That activity is an innovation of more modern exorcists. One of the sermons from the SMC leadership claimed one of the reasons people should obey the leaders (part of a long list) was that they had “experience”. Unfortunately if that experience takes people away from biblical patterns of behaviour and conduct, then that leader’s experience is not something that should help us to decide what road to take – or let our children take. Perhaps it would be better to say the leaders should be followed as long as they stick close to the word of God - as it is and as He has given it to us. So in the testimony of Covlass the “experience” of the Struthers leader has led her to decide that Covlass is secretly a lesbian and the leaders’s “experience” tells her that her discernment is usually correct – a self testimony this particular SMC leader often repeats publicly. So based on the leader’s experience Covlass must bow to her judgement and, until she does, must speak to no one or leave Struthers Church. Faced with this and wanting to please God she was guilted into confessing things that were not ever true to satisfy the needs of the church leader’s unerring ”experience” in these matters. And as a bonus for the leader when a person finally is pushed into agreeing with her she is again proved correct so won't be changing her view of herself any time soon. Jesus did not do this. And please note in case you want to try and argue that the story of the rich young ruler Matt 19.16-22 justifies this appalling leadership conduct the rich young ruler was: 1 not accused of having a demon and 2 Jesus only sent him away unhappy after the rich young man had spent a good while telling Jesus how righteous he was. Using the platform to proclaim their own righteousness is something the SMC leaders do more often than those in their congregations. Basing things on the “experience” of the leaders opens up the danger that if someone is being spoken to by God to do something alien (or just strange) to the limited experience, and nervous sensibilities, of the SMC leadership they could just as easily be accused of being demon possessed - as Jesus was accused. Or if someone suggests that the way SMC teach holiness contains hyper-controlling, self serving nonsense being twisted and presented with no biblical coherence as God’s law - then that person would likely be accused of “lowering the standard – just like the devil wants” - so that person too must be dismissed as “controlled by a demon”. In all cases it becomes a perfect excuse for not listening, not understanding the speaker, not testing things against scripture and not considering whether things need to change. And those who operate this website, and those who have testified to the truth on the RickRoss forum, are similarly accused of being the voice of Satan as we were in the Saturday night sermon of 12 March 2011. Is it still the view of the SMC leadership that involvement in these websites indicates that we are demon possessed? It certainly sounded like that was the view of the leader of the churches in March 2011. But - as we have learned over some years now - to be disapproved of by the SMC “elite” is not a bad place to be in life. We see in this ludicrous reaction - of claiming all who question them are demon possessed - the fear coming out of a small religious elite afraid of loosing their influence and afraid (whatever they say from the pulpit) that this time around God may not sort out their reputational and financial mess and they will be seen as a leadership to fail publicly. But rather than hear and understand and deal with this difficult reality, and the humbling apologies and repentance and admission of responsibility it might require, it is so much easier to say: “see - our enemies are speaking against us. So they must be the voice of Satan. So we must be doing that which is right.” So much easier than listening and understanding the hurt they have caused (intended or not) and changing because that is what is needed and what God is manifestly saying. It is so much easier to yell “demon” and point - as the corrupt leaders did to Jesus. We are happy to stand with Jesus so accused - and the SMC leadership can accuse us of whatever they like and we are happy to leave that to God – it makes not one whit of difference to the truth. However the accusation does not go the other way. We are not attributing any of the harmful and hurtful actions, or the attitudes, of the SMC leadership to demons. The ambition, weakness and fear which lies behind what they do we see as having a much more human source.
CONCLUSION
We would encourage the leaders and members of SMC to study the bible and understand what deliverance is and how it operates as Jesus intended. No one - practitioner or victim - should get involved with deliverance ministry which does not conform to biblical patterns, guidelines and controls. Far too often in SMC “deliverance ministry” seems to have a negative and harmful outcome. They seem to further depress and condemn a struggling Christian who possibly just came with a question or a mild problem they wanted to discuss with their pastor. They may have been lucky enough to have a Struthers pastor who does not seek to operate in deliverance, but if they are less fortunate: they come with a mild problem they are told their un-dealt with sin is at the heart of it (sin they may have had a right to believe was dealt with by the blood of Jesus at salvation but perhaps the SMC leaders could explain that to us?) they are then told the leader has decided the root of that sin is demonic and residing within them and, once the deliverance session or sessions have yielded no evidence that any of that was actually true: then they are condemned as being in rebellion as they clearly do not really want the deliverance these leaders have told them they need. So the person moves from a well balanced, good hearted, healthy Christian with a question to ask - to a Struthers sponsored wreck in a matter of moments. Is it any wonder people have now publicly claimed they went home from “deliverance” sessions such as these feeling cut off from the love of God, depressed and in some cases suicidal. And to be very clear as many have testified to this – a person going for deliverance ministry should not be in a worse state after than they were before. Yet time and time and time again the SMC exorcists plough on in the same destructive way with generation after generation. Years of feedback that this is not working for many, many, many people must be explained away and not listened to. And for the same number of years people have been sometimes obliged to pretend success where there has been no success; and change where there has been no change – lest the leaders cut them off and brand them as rebels and failures because they do not fully appreciate the wonderful work God is doing through them. We believe many have pretended to be “delivered” from a demon and then have to hide their continuing problems, sometimes serious addictions, which have not been dealt with by a Struthers prayer session. They feel they have to do this in case they are identified as unspiritual and would then perhaps be cast off as not wanted in the church as they have often seen happen to others.
Exorcists of Struthers Memorial Church - It Isn't Working. Not because the people are rebellious. SMC exorcists - your "ministry" is being called to account for its failure – not simply by us and not simply by comparison to any other church but by the teachings of Jesus in the bible. If demons are not being cast out, and people are not being permanently set free, the bible teaches it is your fault – not theirs. We can't change the bible because that is embarrassing for you. You can't invent self serving non biblical reasons why people don't get delivered and why people who supposedly do either fall away soon after; or have to come back again and again to be set free from the same things. If that is what is happening your deliverance ministry is failing and you need to fix it. Or you need to stop doing this and get back to pastoral care and outreach and let God deal with these things in people’s lives without your help - as he fully successfully does in most other churches in the UK. These churches are not sobbing for the absence of this “ministry” as the exorcists of SMC conduct it. With a much more powerful ministry called pastoral love and encouragement these churches are developing peoples ministries and gifts and supporting them in taking the good news to people who need it. Not being driven into dependency, despair, fear and introversion by exorcism done badly.