Cast Out Demons

I was unfazed when one of our school cleaning staff sent word that she was ill and would not be able to come to work one Friday in January.  A fever is not uncommon.  I assumed she would be back to work on Monday morning.

Monday morning rolled around.  We had just finished our morning teacher devotions when two of the staff approached me looking concerned.  "P is sick again.  Except, she isn't really sick.  She has a zombie."  

I recognized that use of the word zombie.  In the fall, one of my students had a sister with a "zombie".  In Haiti, when someone has a zombie, it usually means they are being tormented by the demonic.

Rumors tend to spread quickly here, so I decided to pay P a quick visit to see what was really going on.  What I saw and heard from her neighbors was disconcerting to say the least.  She had cuts, scrapes, and welts all over her body.  She was very agitated and not acting like herself at all.  Several neighbor women explained to me that they had witnessed her jumping on her bed and swinging from the rafters of her little one room house.  They said she acted crazy in the middle of the night and ran outside.  When they had to restrain her to get her home, she attempted to fight them.  "It is a zombie," they told me.

Ok.  It was 7:30 AM.  My students would arrive for class in 15 minutes.  What do I do with that information??  "Can I come back after school to pray for her?" I asked the neighbors.

By the end of the school day, most of the school staff had learned (or heard rumor) of what was going on with P.  During the end of the day meeting, I explained to everyone that if they would like to accompany me, I was going to go pray for P.  School was over, they were all free to go home, but every single staff member (15 total people) went together to P's house.

We barely fit inside her tiny house as we made a half circle around her.  My co-teacher talked to her about God's healing power for whatever problem she has in her life.  He lead everyone in worship and we all began to pray for whatever problem P was dealing with.  Eventually, we moved her into the center of the house and we formed a circle around her.

Fresnel, one of our Haitian teachers, began to lead by asking P some simple questions.

"P, who created you?" he asked her.

"Bondye (God)." she responded without making eye contact with him.

"And who is His son that saves us from sin?" Fresnel questioned

"I don't know." she said, eyes fixed on the floor.

"Do you recognize the name 'Jesus'?" He asked her.

"No," she said.

"And what about my name? Or her name?  Or his name?" he asked her as he pointed to several of us in the circle.

"I recognize you all." she said

"No, what are our names?  Tell me one name." he said firmly.

"It's far...I can't remember right now, but I know you." she said.

I think in that moment it became clear to most of us what we were dealing with (Ephesians 6:12).  So, we began to pray again.  Despite Fresnel's attempts to get her to make eye contact with him while we were praying, she continued to look at the floor.  Eventually she sat down in the middle of the circle.  We moved to the floor with her and continued to pray.  Fresnel began to speak directly to her again.

"Where do you come from?" he asked

"By the meat market," she answered.

"Oh yeah?  Well, I'm sending you back to the fire right now," he said to her with complete authority and confidence.  At that, he head shot up immediately and fear was in her eyes.

"Fire?!  Fire?!  No!  No!  I'm not going to the fire!  You can go to the fire!  I'm not going!" she began to shout loudly.

While this was taking place, I began to pray harder asking the Lord to speak to me and reveal where this spirit was attaching itself to her.  I asked for a word that would help us to speed up this process so that this demon would stop abusing her.  Within a minute I very clearly heard, "Neck."  Simple and straightforward.  But, oh me of little faith.  I prayed, "Ok, God was that you??  Really?  Did you just say neck?  If that was you, God, and not my own head, please say it again."  I didn't even have to wait because I heard it again, immediately.  "NECK!"

Afraid to say it loud enough for everyone in the room, I turned to my friend, "Ok, this is weird but God just told me neck...that's all I've got."  She shrugged and at that, we both looked to P's neck.  A blue scarf was tied tightly and multiple times around her neck.

"What is that?" I asked Fresnel.

"I don't know," he said.  "P, who put that on you??" he asked her.  She didn't respond.  "Take that off!" he said.

Someone untied it and handed it to me.  It smelled strongly of incense and was wet.  I immediately went to the door and threw it outside to get it as far away as possible.  As soon as that was removed from her neck, things started happening fast.  She began thrashing around on the floor.  We had to hold her down.  We prayed harder, commanding the demon to leave her body and go back to hell.  She gnashed her teeth and attempted to get away from our grasp.

"Let me go!!!!  No! No!  Leave me alone!  No!" she screamed.

This went on for several minutes until she eventually was still.  Fresnel asked her to stand up and pray with him.  She prayed with him saying "Jesus is Lord."  We formed a circle around her again.  One by one, Fresnel had her say what each of our names were.  She knew every name.  When she got to me she looked up into my face and smiled, "I'll be at work to clean tomorrow."

And she was.  The next day, bright and early with a big smile on her face she was at school and she was P again.  "I slept peacefully.  I didn't hear the voices and I wasn't beaten by the demons last night.  My house was peaceful after you all prayed for me."

Psalm 46:1
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.


Matthew 10:8

Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons.  Freely you have received; freely give.