The devil must be busier than ever in the new millennium. Exorcism, the ancient rite of casting out Satan and his demons from the souls of the possessed, is thriving in America and was long before recent revelations that Mother Teresa underwent one and Pope John Paul II performed them. It is a big phenomenon, J. Gordon Melton, a Methodist minister who directs the Institute for the Study of American Religion, says of exorcisms in the United States. There is a lot of exorcism going on. What many might consider an archaic and obscure rite has been front-page news this year. Last week, the Archbishop of Calcutta, Henry Sebastian DSouza, announced that he ordered an exorcism performed on Mother Teresa before she died in 1997. By conservative estimates, there are at least five or six hundred evangelical exorcism ministries in operation today, and quite possibly two or three times this many, he writes, in addition to numerous exorcisms performed by charismatic, Pentecostal and other brands of Christianity.
Posted on: Mon, 28 Oct 2013 21:59:24 +0000
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