Are They Demons Or Just Delusions? Popular culture continues to debate whether exorcisms are necessary to cleanse a demon-filled world or just a cheaper alternative to conventional psychiatric therapy

0 Comments | Insight on the News, Nov 24, 2003 | by John M. Powers

"Demonization is a religious issue," Scheinbaum says, in which mental disorders are seen as demon possession by those with a religious outlook. He says that to get to the root of someone's problems and to heal them one must "look at the whole person."

The danger of seeking exorcism instead of psychiatric help is that it is "not really addressing the issue," he contends. Exorcism might provide a "temporary respite," but it cannot heal the entire person, according to Scheinbaum.

"We find a real need for differential diagnosis," says Francis MacNutt, director of Christian Healing Ministries, which is staffed by mental-health professionals who acknowledge the need for prayer and deliverance in helping people overcome mental disorders. Unlike Scheinbaum, MacNutt says that though "some of the symptoms [of possession] can be ambiguous," one can find that mental disorders coexist with a demonic possession. He says the key to healing a person with multiple personalities, for instance, is discerning which personalities "need to be put back together" and which are demonic and must be cast out. MacNutt reports increased interest by the mental-health community in prayer and exorcism/deliverance.

Certainly not everyone agrees. For example, parapsychologist Hans Holzer, who has a doctorate from the London College of Applied Science, tells Insight, "I don't think a minister, priest or rabbi can do a damn thing." Holzer is the author of many books, including The Supernatural: Explaining the

Unexplained, in which he sets out scientifically to prove or disprove phenomena long regarded as unexplainable. As he sees it, "There is no heaven. There is no hell. There are no angels. There are no devils." He believes people sometimes are possessed or inhabited by the spirits of humans who have died but desire to be physical again. He declares, "We're talking pure science," based on accounts collected from "many trans-mediums."

Should we be afraid of being seized upon by the souls of the dead?

This former professor of parapsychology at the New York Institute of Technology assures Insight that "normal people," such as himself, are possessed only rarely.

Then there is Bill Niland, director of Real Deliverance Ministries in Tampa, Fla., who says he frequently has seen demonic possession, which he prefers to call "demonic dominion." Niland performs exorcisms/deliverances on a regular basis and tells Insight the devil not only exists but assuredly is present in the world. He cites disorders that are the result of demonic dominion and says helping a person with these problems involves finding the "doorway" someone has opened to allow evil the "opportunity" to enter their lives. Once that opening has been found, Niland says, he takes a compassionate yet stern approach. "Deliverance involves coming alongside, in gentleness and love, and sharing God's Word so they [the dominated] can ... respond to it by repenting," he says.

Says Niland, if one starts to see a "circus-type atmosphere" develop during an exorcism/deliverance, something has gone wrong. "When deliverance takes place, there's a sense of peace and joy that comes upon a person," he says.