Now with over six-thousand persons helped, we often hear of people’s previous attempts to be rid of their spiritual problems. Many have turned to Catholic priests and Protestant ministers, only to be given advice which is complete nonsense. Sometimes we can’t help but laugh at some the things they are told. Some people go to psychiatrists for help, and even the advice they receive, there, makes us laugh. It isn’t that the people’s problems are not serious, and neither do we find them funny, but it has shown us how little proper help there is available to a suffering world.

Regarding the "mental health professionals," typical of the advice we hear about are the following:

A man kept exposing himself and performing a sex act in public. The authorities ordered him to undergo psychiatric counselling. The man was already embarrassed having to explain to a female counsellor why he did what he did. Then her best advice was to: "Next time you feel like doing this, have a cup of tea, instead." Obviously this "mental health expert" thought that the man just needed something else to occupy his mind.

In another case of the same kind, the man had to spend time in an institution and undergo therapy. We were curious about the therapy, and the man explained: "We make leather goods such as belts and purses. We do that for a few hours every day. They tell us that the devil finds work for idle hands."

In yet another case a man was sent to a rehabilitation center for twelve weeks. I asked him what the therapy consisted of. He said they had to "climb the ladder." I was puzzled by this and asked him what it meant. He said, "We have twelve pieces of coloured yarn. We spend week one with one of the pieces of yarn tied around our penises for one week. The second week we have a different colour yarn tied on, and so on until by the end of the twelfth week we have had all twelve pieces of yarn tied to our penises. Then we have to stand, one at a time, and swear that we are now healed." Since the end of that man's therapy, he came to us for proper help.

If you have ever wondered what professional mental health therapy consists of, now you know. All of the above cases teach us that the mental health profession is seriously lacking in knowledge and truth. Do the practitioners not receive a degree after years of training? And does this degree not testify that the practitioner is qualified to deal with "mentally ill" people? It seems to us that the world, even those in authority over us, just accept that these "highly trained professionals" are the current hi-tech answers to people with mental problems. Even more sad than this is the fact that Christians also look to the "mental health experts" as having more knowledge and ability than God. If this is not so, then why do they not look to God for answers? He does have answers, you know!

To be fair, there are some Christians who do regard the mental health field as seriously lacking in knowledge and ability, yet they turn to books by Christian authors for their answers. This is reflected in the people who come to us for help and tell us of the various ministries who have tried to help them but the problems persist. We hear the cliches and invented excuses for the person having demon spirits in their homes. We have read a number of these books, ourselves, and recognize the teachings of the writers who go by what they think is the cause, rather than what God says. The false teachings in these books are learned by Christians seeking knowledge, and then handed on down to the next generation. We do not condemn all books by Christian authors because, obviously, we have not read all of them, yet Christians place too much confidence in them and accept the teachings as though they are on the same level as Scripture.

Some years ago, God addressed the Christian book issue with me, after I had just purchased two more books from the Christian bookstore. His word came across to me as such: "You have an extensive collection of books by Christian authors, and you have paid a lot of money for them, yet they are not my Word. They are just the opinions of men, and you are paying for their opinions." I was quite taken aback by this revelation and I felt a little ashamed. Yes, we know that these authors quote Scripture, yet it may be misrepresented to back up their opinions. Those books now occupy some space in a landfill. Why didn’t I give them to somebody else, or sell them? Because I didn’t want to perpetuate the false teachings found within.

As our ministry proceeds, we talk to those who have been "helped" by ministers who have also read those same books. They tell us what the ministers did and this is what makes us laugh. The trouble is, their methods are widely used and accepted by the Church, and this is why these people end up coming to us for help.

June 7, 2008 - was a typical example of helping somebody who had already been helped by two other ministers. A woman had spirits in her house. Her sister is a nun and the woman asked her for help. The nun brought in a priest who prayed over the house to "cleanse" it. The problem persisted. Next the woman turned to a Christian friend, a member of a Baptist church. The minister brought in a prayer group and they raided the house to see what could be causing demons to dwell there. Their shocking discovery was found in the woman’s pantry: Herbal teas! Their reasoning was that the tea packets had a New Age symbol on them, which means the tea company must have had somebody praying New Age prayers over the tea as it rolls down the production line. This church took all the woman’s teas and destroyed them. Later, she informed the church that the spirits were still in her home. The minister said he doesn’t know what else to do for her.

We call this type of thinking "Christian Paranoia" and there is plenty of it to go around. Victims will be told to get rid of their rock albums, alcohol drinks, jewelry and whatever else the minister thinks will bring demons into their homes. Some will even tell them it’s wrong to dance as I was once told in a Baptist church. The elderly pastor brought the "sin" of dancing into his sermon, one Sunday evening, and I was not prepared to just accept his teaching without a scripture reference, so I confronted him after the service. His response as he looked down at his shoes: "Well, you know how it is between a man and a woman..." I feigned ignorance and asked him to enlighten me. "It’s what we call the dry f*ck!" he exclaimed. Apart from being a little shocked at his language I was dismayed that he would even condemn a man dancing with his wife. The rule is: "No Dancing!"

Others have been told to get rid of jewelry such as pentagrams. It is at such a symbol that Christians become truly paranoid, believing that it can bring the devil to them. Others have been told that photographs of other family members (who had become entrapped in the occult) need to be burned. They have not been given a choice but have had their property taken from them and destroyed, as it was done with the herbal teas. I, myself, was made to burn my rock albums many years ago. It doesn’t matter what they tell you to get rid of, it will not take care of your spiritual problems. Yes, get rid of your illegal drugs if you are using them, because they do the body harm. Control yourself when it comes to alcohol rather than get rid of it unless it is too much of a temptation for you. The point is, the devil isn’t in these things.

Procter and Gamble, a huge international organization who make many household products, had a ‘Man in the Moon’ logo for one-hundred years, until Christians saw evil in the logo. The ‘Man in the Moon’ had a curly beard, and some Christians saw that the curls, if reversed, formed the number ‘666’. Then they began a rumour that Procter and Gamble support the Church of Satan. The rumour led to a boycott of the company’s products. Despite the fact that the truth was published in Christian magazines and on Christian radio for many months, these foolish Christians persisted in their boycotts and kept spreading the malicious and false rumour to their friends. The company was forced to eventually take action and threatened to sue those who persisted in this nonsense. Still the Christians continued in their paranoia until two leaders were sued. It cost them $60,000 between them and all because of their fear - which spread like wildfire in a dry forest - over a mere symbol. Satan is not in the number ‘666’.

Concerning rock music, another pastor preached on it, one Sunday night, saying that it is Satanic. Again, I could not accept his teaching without scriptural proof, so I confronted him after the service. His excuse: "I used to minister in Saint Lucia where voodoo is their religion, and the drumbeats of rock music are the same as those in the voodoo chanting." So there you have it, folks: the devil will enter you if you listen to rock music and drink herbal tea. Christian Paranoia!

We regard the bible as God’s word to us, to enlighten us about the world, as well as to know Him more and ourselves as sinners. So let us take a look at some of the scriptures to see what God says about consuming evil foods, music, etc.

Then the disciples came to him and asked, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?" Matt 15:10-12 NIV

"Unclean" refers to the person’s spiritual status. In other words, what you consume will not make you evil or bring devils into you. (There may be one exception to that, of what we are aware, and that is of consuming human flesh.) Note how the religious leaders were offended at Jesus’ teaching. Are Christians and their leaders any different?

He replied, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them; they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit." Matt 15:13-14 NIV

And that last scripture backs up what we say about some Christian authors and the books that so many Christians take as gospel truth.

"Are you still so dull?" Jesus asked them. "Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean .' For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man 'unclean'; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him 'unclean .'" Matt 15:15-20 NIV

Those verses were included in this text to show that evil come from within the heart of man. Look at them, again, and realize that these things are what makes us sinners. It wasn’t demons who put those things into our hearts because we drank the wrong tea, wear the wrong symbolic jewelry, or listened to the wrong music, but they can certainly use our wickedness against us when we indulge those evil ways. It is when we choose to sin (rebel against God) that demons have a right to enter us. We are born into sin! We are sinners from birth! It doesn’t take demons to make us sinners.

As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean , then for him it is unclean . If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died. Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men. Rom 14:14-18 NIV

The apostle Paul confirms that no food is (spiritually) unclean in itself, yet the Christians who determined that herbal tea can bring demons into a house because of a mere symbol on the package, do not, apparently, understand this, or they have not read it in their bible, or they just do not believe it. A lack of faith in God allows for spiritual intrusion into a person’s life. At whatever point we do not believe God, then we believe Satan owns that person at that point. We are not suggesting, however, that the person is possessed.

Romans 14:1 tells us that one man eats meat while another man eats only vegetables. The one who eats only vegetables is weak in the faith (This has nothing to do with being a vegetarian). In other words, some people will not consume certain foods because they believe it to be wrong (against God). It seems, from this, that the minister who confiscated the woman’s herbal tea is weak in his faith. We do not condemn him for this but we do wonder why he does not believe what God says.

Yet it all goes beyond a weakness of faith. Those who are ministers take on a responsibility to correctly administer the things of God. This necessitates a knowledge of scripture. One does not have to read the whole bible to see that Jesus cast out demons and that He has given His authority to those who trust in Him to also do the same thing.

"In my name they shall cast out devils." Mark 16:17 NIV.

He never said anything about New Age symbols, herbal tea, rock music, dancing, or getting rid of possessions to make demons go away. We hope that Christians will take note of these things and trust in the Word of God instead of Christian authors who are fallible and may be wrong in their teachings about demons. Many a victim becomes even more frustrated and despondent when church ministers have no success in helping them, and they even begin to question if God really exists.

It is by faith in Christ that we are saved from sin, and it is by faith in Christ that we cast out demons. No ‘holy water’, no crosses, no bibles, no ‘prayer warriors’, no other dreamed-up methods... just faith in Christ.