What does it take to cast out a demon?

Today Pam Plasier, Mission Haiti ministry director, and a short-term mission team were planning to hike up the mountain to try to cast a demon out of Rosemonde, a young teenage girl in Haiti.  Pam tried once before several weeks ago, and then I (Cory) tried with another team late in July, but at this point as far as I know we are still waiting for God to work a miracle.  I'm not sure what happened during today's encounter, but I am anxious to find out.

So what does it take to cast out a demon?

I'm no authority on this, that is for sure, but I am open to learning more about these things, especially since it is such a huge part of living in Haiti.  First of all, I think we have to get past our logic-soaked western thinking which might ask, "Do demons even exist?"  As Screwtape wrote to Wormwood, the greatest trick Satan ever pulled was to convince most of us he was only a myth long forgotten.  On the other hand, I don't think every illness is the result of demon possession as some are prone to believe in Haiti and similar places.

There must be a middle ground where our physical world actually interacts with the spiritual realm.

So that morning in late July when we went to see Rosemonde, we took the advice of Kiki, Mission Haiti's main contact in Haiti, and we spent some time in prayer.  The group began confessing sins to one another, which in and of itself is one of the most inspiring things you can do.  We were determined to walk up that mountain and be united no matter what happened.  I prayed that the group would follow my lead even if they didn't feel I was making the right decision at any point.  Kiki warned us that if the demon sensed division he would attack us.

The story on Rosemonde is that she is simply the latest victim of a long-standing family pact with Satan made long ago.  At some point her ancestors agreed to sacrifice one family member in each coming generation in exchange for some benefit, such as successful crops.  So Rosemonde is bearing the burden of that erroneous deal made decades ago.  Our task was to somehow break that cycle.

So we arrived at the home and found a dying young girl who was unable to sit up, eat, drink, or speak.  There was a heaviness in the air which could only be described as a dark, evil presence.  We began speaking with her, praying for her, trying to agitate the demon with worship and Scripture, and just whatever came to mind.  But in the end nothing dramatic happened during the couple of hours we were there.  But it definitely was a chance to do some soul searching.  Every possible thought probably raced through my head:

Is this really a case of demon possession?  (Yes, I assured myself...the family says she lashes out daily, speaks in a strange voice, and throws herself violently to the ground)

What am I doing here?  Do I even have the faith to do this?  (It's not about my faith...it's about God's power and love)

I'm supposed to be the leader here...so what if things get crazy and one of these team members gets hurt? (I don't know!)

What do we do if nothing happens?  (I really don't know!)

What if we cast a demon out?  How do we keep it from coming back with more demons as Jesus described in the book of Luke?  (I really, really don't know...except I believe if a person has the Holy Spirit, through faith in Jesus Christ, a demon can no longer inhabit him/her.)

What would be the implications of a bunch of rich white people being successful in doing this when Haitians have tried and failed...would we be doing more harm than good? (tough question)

While we were there it crossed my mind several times that Rosemonde might die while we were trying to help her.  That is how bad her physical condition was.  We put rice in her mouth, but she couldn't chew it.  We did the same with water, but it just poured out.  One woman in our group picked her up, and she felt like a dead person. 

But she is still alive over two weeks later, and that is a miracle.  Maybe God did do something that day.  And I hope God did something even more amazing today when Pam and the team visited.  Please join us in praying for this precious young lady, and I'll let you know the end of the story sometime soon.