Bartholomew's Notes

Days after a report in the Los Angeles Times on Catholic exorcism comes a profile of Lloyd Maxwell, head of Faith Deliverance Ministries International, based in Jamaica. Talking to the Jamaica Gleaner, Maxwell explained that

a person’s being…has ‘compartments’ and so it is possible for God to be in one section and for Satan to be in another part.

And how do the demons enter in?

ancestral curses – such as that which comes through one’s progeny because of one’s involvement in the occult; sexual sins; curses set by others or self-inflicted curses.

During his ministry of casting demons out of Christians, Maxwell has had to endure them leaving messages on his voice mail and a demon in his bed:

he rebuked the demon, saying ‘I am a Minister of the Gospel, I have done my day’s work, I am entitled to sweet sleep and I am drawing a line here on this bed over which you cannot cross.”

This is not the Gleaner‘s first foray into this area. Back in 2002 Mark Dawes, who covers the Gleaner‘s demon-beat, profiled Donald Stewart (1), pastor of Faith Deliverance Ministries International. According to Stewart, demons have often identified themselves as “Masonic Lodge”, and he

spoke too about having counselled several persons who are members of the Church of Satan in Jamaica. He gleaned from these counselling/exorcising sessions that there is at least one such church in every parish. Delivered persons hardly ever seem to remember the actual locations of these churches, as there seems to be a built-in amnesia within those delivered from Satanism.

Shame Mike Warnke never thought of that one. Stewart also recalls a boy

viewing ‘Days of Our Lives’ and he saw a woman in the show who had psychic powers, and he said “I wish I had powers like that,” and instantly the demons came on him and he became suicidal.

Stewart was challenged by magician André Kole, who did a Randi on him:

VISITING MAGICIAN André Kole is offering US$1million to the Rev. Dr. Donald Stewart if he can prove his statement that Satan gives supernatural powers. Such evidence, he said, should be verified by an independent group of people. “If he can’t he needs to shut up and quit causing all this problem and superstition about something that is totally unBiblical,” said Mr. Kole.

Dawes has also profiled Bishop Joseph Adegold, who has been published by American Charismatic firm Whitaker House and who puts a lot of the blame on traditional African practices. He has also used the Gleaner to promote Rebecca Brown, the discredited fantasist who used to be published by Jack Chick:

Some have dismissed the writings of Dr. Brown, claiming she fabricated some of the stories and there are a few Web sites that denounce her as a fraud. But then if one is exposing the ugliness of Satan shouldn’t one expect to be labelled in order to be disregarded?… Rebecca Brown’s writings are Biblical, and to the extent it assaults a conservative Christian mind set, it is radical.

However, even Dawes is forced to add: “Don’t let her werewolf and vampire stories turn you off. If you are interested in deliverance ministry – be there!”

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(1) Donald Stewart should not be confused with the American disciple of A.A. Allen, Don Stewart.

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Russian Chief Rabbi Berl Lazar has called for religious sects to be banned:

Reports available to us suggest that more than one million Russian citizens are members of various sects. This is a serious threat. We shouldn’t sit back and wait until something bad happens. We don’t need such sects.

Lazar had previously given lukewarm support to the Moscow ban on Jehovah’s Witnesses, who soon will not be able to worship even in private:

there are serious questions about the practice of the Jehovists in Russia; for example, it is completely impermissible that ministers of the faith to force children to cut off relations with their parents if they are not members of the same religious  society.

Perhaps Lazar hasn’t heard Martin Niemöller’s famous poem “First they came for the Communists”. His comments are also somewhat ironic given that Lazar is a Lubavitcher, an ultra-orthodox Jewish group that some see as the JWs of Judaism. Meanwhile, alternative Chief Rabbi Adolf Shayevich (1) has called on ISKCON to relocate from Moscow to distant Kamchatcha:

When young people with an unmistakably Slavic appearance shave their heads like Krishna followers and put on the robes of Hindu ascetics, it looks artificial to other people. Why should such things appear today if nothing of this nature has ever been on Russian soil?

However, one shouldn’t be too critical. Clearly fearful of anti-Semitism, Jewish leaders are being careful to show that they fit into Russian society. The main force behind the banning of particular religious groups is, of course, the Russian Orthodox Church. Obviously, it makes no sense to try to get more converts in a religious free market when you can just persecute your opposition. Especially recalling that the JWs chose to suffer in gulags under Stalin rather than compromise and allow half their leadership to get infiltrated by the KGB.

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(1) Shayevich was ousted as Chief Rabbi by a Lubavitcher lobby supported by the Kremlin, but he is still recognised by many Orthodox Jews inside Russia and by The Conference of European Rabbis. See here.

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