Mrs. Elaine Foster Allen (right), principal of Shortwood Teachers' College, St. Andrew, converses with a student of the school last September. Campus life was disrupted last month in the wake of demonic activities. Deliverance ministers were called in and the demons expelled. - Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer

The classifications of demonic 'possession', 'oppression' and 'influence' are, therefore, man-made distinctions which are sometimes helpful for description purposes, but which are theologically incorrect and potentially confusing.

The recent media reports of 'Demon possessed students at Shortwood Teachers' College' and the subsequent public discussions, commentaries and debates on the subject of demonology (and 'exorcism') have left many people frightened, confused and theologically misguided.

This article serves (1) to bring another dimension on the 'Shortwood encounters', presenting the truth, from ministers who were actually involved in the process, and (2) to shed some needed light on the demon possession/oppression/influence debate being advanced by Pastor Devon Dick of the Boulevard Baptist Church in one of his recent Gleaner commentaries.

The first phase of the Shortwood sncounters occurred between Sunday October 29 and Thursday November 2, when several students and other personnel on the college campus were (as reported in The STAR article) powerfully set free from demonic bondage, in the name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Christian ministers from a wide cross section of denominations and ministries in the Corporate Area and St. Catherine had been invited by the College's principal, Mrs. Elaine Foster-Allen, to provide emergency spiritual help to what was then a potentially explosive situation.

Oneness of purpose

With oneness of purpose, a spirit of service and an unusual operational unity, reminiscent of the New Testament Apostolic teams, these ministers worked alongside the principal and her Christian staff members, to ensure that those who had been held captive by demonic powers were set free and that order was restored to the college campus as quickly as possible.

It is important to point out at this stage that the particular students in question were not simply under some nebulous "demonic influences", as some sceptics have stated, but were in fact indwelt and being controlled in various aspects of their personalities by wicked, foul-mouthed demonic spirits, bent on destroying lives.

For the sake of all readers, including cynical and unbelieving Christian ministers, a few words of clarification need to be said about the terms 'demon possession', 'demonic oppression' and 'demonic influence'. We must, of necessity, go back to the New Testament writings, since there is where we should receive our fundamental understanding of these subjects and from which we obtain our mandate to cast out demons.

The basic Greek word used (in the New Testament) in cases where demonic activity was manifested was the term 'daimonizomai', which literally meant, "to be exercised by a demon, or to have a devil, or to be vexed with or possessed by a demon". Experts in this field have long concluded that the word 'demonisation' is the most accurate English translation, expressing this phenomenon.

The truth is that the Bible does not indicate in each New Testament account, whether the demons were on the inside or the outside of the suffering, tormented victim. (Just as it wouldn't be the most important issue for a man who is bleeding to death to debate or philosophise about whether the knife handle is on the inside or the outside of his heart.)

The classifications of demonic 'possession', 'oppression' and 'influence' are, therefore, man-made distinctions which are sometimes helpful for description purposes, but which are theologically incorrect and potentially confusing.

Occupancy

We should have also realised by now, that in this context, the word 'possession' is ambiguous as it could be interpreted to mean either 'occupancy' (i.e. demons dwelling on the inside of an individual) or ownership (i.e. being fully owned and controlled by the devil and his demons). Please be advised that 'possession' has nothing to do with whether the demonised person is conscious or not (as was incorrectly stated by Bishop Joseph Ade-Gold in The Weekend STAR of November 3).

It is primarily for these reasons that those who are experienced and enlightened in this area of ministry will normally avoid the use of terms like 'demon possessed' and 'demon possession', since these produce unnecessary confusion and generate counterproductive stigmas.

With reference to the Shortwood encounters, The STAR report (November 3) accurately captured the real feelings and concerns of some frightened students, who had witnessed the nerve-shattering ordeal of their demonised colleagues. What they had experienced was not simply the figment of someone's overactive imagination, but was as real as the accounts found in Mark 1:21-28, Mark 5: 1-20, Mark 9: 16-29, Luke 8: 26-39, Acts 5: 15-16, Acts 8: 4-8, Acts 16: 16-18 and Acts 19: 11-12.

What the media would not have known, however, was that, in addition to the freeing of those who had been demonised, there were also dozens of students and other persons present who either committed or recommitted their lives to Jesus Christ during those five memorable days on the Shortwood campus.

Many of us who are ministers of the Gospel had never seen such anointed, spontaneous praying, praise and corporate worship in our own churches and denominational gatherings, as was present at Shortwood Teachers' College, between October 29 and November 2. One pastor's wife, who had been actively involved on the Wednesday evening, echoed the sentiments of many when she remarked, "This is truly a revival that has broken out here!"

Chain-reaction

Another important truth that neither the media nor the absent commentators would have known was that the chain-reaction of demonic manifestations had not been caused by "mass hysteria" or by demons being transferred from person to person (though we are fully aware that this can happen in many ministry situations).

In this particular Shortwood encounter, the demons that surfaced in the various individuals had already been present, concealed or in a dormant state. It was the spiritually-charged atmosphere of prayer, praise, worship (to Jesus Christ) and the undiluted, unrestrained proclamation of God's Word that "flushed" them out from their hiding places and allowed their victims to be wonderfully set free.

There have been other phases of the Shortwood encounter since November 2, including follow-up counselling, prayer, administrative meetings, media interaction and the developing of strategies for the future.

We thank God for this positive experience, which we now recognise was an important teaching-learning activity for teachers-in-training, as they are being prepared to confront our Jamaican school system that is obviously permeated with such demonic manifestations as deep-rooted occult involvement, unrestrained sexual promiscuity and perversions, 'dog-hearted' criminal activity and wickedness of unimaginable proportions.

Could it be that God, in his Divine wisdom, may one day decide to reproduce this 'Shortwood encounter' in other institutions across our diabolically-diseased island in order to rescue the perishing and provide hope for the people of Jamaica land we love?

Contributed by Elaine Foster-Allen (Mrs.), principal Shortwood Teachers' College, and deliverance ministers, Dr. Donald K. Stewart, Carol Thompson, Mark Wedderburn, Junior Colquhoun, Norris Pinto, David Ferguson, Kenneth Runcie. Send feedback on Mind&Spirit to mark.dawes@gleanerjm.com.