Former Navy Chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt Claims to Perform Exorcisms on Gay People

Former Navy Chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt, who founded the lobbying group The Pray In Jesus Name Project, claimed on 'The David Pakman Show' that he possesses the power to “exorcise” homosexuality out of people, on Tuesday.
Joining Klingenschmitt was Wayne Besen, executive director of the LGBT advocacy group Truth Wins Out, who challenged Klingenschmitt’s opening claim that he once “healed” a lesbian woman of her sexual orientation.
Besen said: “You cannot pray away the gay. What I think he’s talking about is absurd. People who go through individuals like that come to me afterwards to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives. They’re not healed, they’re harmed by such voodoo, so to speak. This isn’t Christianity. This is some kind of cult-like, bizarre notion that has nothing to do with real religion but has something to do with radicalism and extremism.”
Klingenschmitt responded that when people confess their sins and profess faith in the Jesus Christ, he’s actually been able to “exorcise” homosexuality out of them.

The Paranormal Disappearance of Allyn Jesick Review

Written by: Lola Savage

Recently, I had the good fortune of screening an up-and-coming director’s new addition to the found-footage genre. Shot and produced in my home state, director Mason Freeman creates an interesting tale of the supernatural and witchcraft. Yes, while everyone else is buzzing over exorcisms and ghosts, Freeman decided to expose the terrifying dangers of magic in The Paranormal Disappearance of Allyn Jesick.
Allyn Jesick (Hayley Lovitt) is creating a “My Life” video thesis, depicting the reunion of her, her sister Rose (Bethany Tiller), and their mother (Annie Cook) at their mother’s home in the North Carolina mountains. Their mother has suffered from cancer for several years, and has recently decided to cease her medical treatment for holistic practices. While Allyn and her mother are both optimistic about the results, Rose, a nurse, is highly skeptical. Their reunion is documented by an unseen friend and film student, but, instead of a happy family weekend, the camera captures something far more sinister.
As each night passes, our cameraman (director Mason Freeman) captures strange glowing lights in the old barn and chicken coop. When he boldly investigates during the day,  he finds identical remains of burnt candles and black sludge. He keeps his findings hidden from the women, so as not to frighten anyone prematurely. But there are bigger things to worry about as their mother’s pleasant demeanor takes a drastic turn for the worse and her behavior becomes erratic, violent, and downright weird. They blame the cancer at first, but even after a visit from Dr. Charles (David Shifter, casting director), it’s clear something beyond this world is causing her distress. You know they should leave, call the police, or an ambulance, but, unfortunately, it’s too late.
This film is built on a very small cast, but it was quintessential for their chemistry to be as authentic as possible, which meant a rigorous casting process to find mom and daughters that would be beyond convincing. I have to applaud David Shifter and Hollywood East Casting for their work on finding the star trio. Their portrayals carried the movie above and beyond any performance like it I’ve seen. What made the film even more note-worthy was its lack of a formal script. By using an outline and allowing the cast to improvise most of their lines, every line felt significantly more real than it could have with a formal script. Certainly this tactic could have proven harmful to their story but, in fact, it was pulled off really well.
Where Paranormal lacks is in its inability to build tension toward the climax of the movie. It’s imperative for a horror film to create the sense of fear in the scenario in which the characters are put. Most of the scenes were very mild leading up to the pinnacle of the story. When the motor did start, though, the director’s use of cinematography, and lack of CG, proved well-placed in conveying a very creepy farm. To keep in their theme of genuine acting, actors on the set were sometimes uninformed of certain scenes in order to capture the most authentic scares you can get.
My Savage Score is a possessed 3 out of 5. Unlike other mockumentaries using flashy CG and abrupt screen shots to get cheap thrills, Paranormal stays simple and manages to hold its own in the crowd. Gore Score is a spotted 3 out of 10. Not a lot of blood to go around so keep an eye out for what’s not there. I think viewers will relate closely to this story and the actors inside it. More information will be released in the future about when this film will be available to the public.

Exorcisms: A 'hot' service in the Valley

 He called it a gift from God. Brownsville Pastor Gabriel Villela told Action 4 News he can cast out demons. The evil spirits he claimed hide inside many of us, sometimes making us sick. “God told me, ‘Gabriel, if you take bad spirits out of people, the sicknesses they have will go away,’" said Villela. Every Tuesday believers fill a small room in Brownsville. Berta Guillen said she had a thyroid problem. "The doctor had given me all kinds of medications,” said Guillen. “The medications weren't helping me." Rolando Garcia said he was addicted to drugs. "A cocaine addict, and I even got to the point where I was smoking crack," said Garcia. It all changed when both met Villela. "The doctor told me, 'I don't know what you took or what happened, but there's nothing wrong with you," said Guillen. “I was liberated of a spirit, a spirit of addiction,” said Garcia. Arthritis, depression, even cancer: all are illnesses Villela said he's conquered by expelling demons from members of his flock. Villela said he expels demons an average of 15 times a week. “Right now it's popular,” said Doctor Tony Zavaleta, an anthropology professor at the University of Texas at Brownsville. “It's in vogue for people to be possessed by demons." Zavaleta said in the last 20 years, there's been a dramatic increase in people claiming they’re possessed. “But the majority of this is an emotional disturbance, some sort of mental health issue," said Zavaleta. Zavaleta said he has seen a case in which a healer like Villela cured a Brownsville woman of ovarian cancer. He said some in the Valley will see a pastor before a doctor. “We have the lowest level of insurance coverage, the highest rate of poverty, one of the highest rates of belief and participation with folk healers,” said Zavaleta. “So here in the Valley your first line of defense might not be your family practice physician.” "The church has always said the first line of defense for a Christian is common sense," said Bishop Daniel Flores of the Catholic Diocese of Brownsville. In an audio recording on the diocese web site, Bishop Flores explained the Catholic Church's view on demonic possession. "Possession is actually fairly rare," said Bishop Flores. The devil, Bishop Flores said, is a hot topic. Although he's never seen a possession first hand, Bishop Flores said he has seen plenty of obsession. "Possession is when the devil for some mysterious reason has been able to take possession of the interior soul of the person,” said Bishop Flores. “Obsession is not that the devil is inside. It's harassing you from the outside." Priests only perform exorcisms after thorough physical and mental evaluations. "There's a very, very rigorous examination the church goes through to be able to discern whether something is actually a possession or not,” said Bishop Flores. Villela said he only casts out demons from people after they see a doctor. His followers called him their last hope when medicine and doctors didn't do the job. "I'm so thankful I found him," said Guillen.

Swedish exorcism parents freed without charge

The father and step-mother of a teenage girl, who claimed they repeatedly tortured her because they “thought she was a witch”, have been released without charge. A court in western Sweden decided that the evidence against the pair was not strong enough to convict, despite the prosecution’s claim that they locked up the 14-year-old to protect her younger siblings for her “inherent evil”, tied her up and shaved her head.
“According to the girl’s version of events, she has been locked up, has had her feet tied together, been assaulted through being burned with a red-hot knife in a torture-like manner and other violent rites and exorcisms,” prosecutor Daniel Larsson wrote in a statement.
The parents and two priests, all from a small religious community in Malmö known as The River, were charged but denied the allegations. Although the court admitted that some circumstances supported the girl’s version of events, they said others disputed them.
The teenager lost credibility for failing to come forward quickly enough after the alleged events, with the court deciding that she may have been influenced by footage of exorcisms she had watched on YouTube. Statements from social workers and teachers, as well as a scar on the girl’s arm, were not deemed to be enough to secure a guilty verdict.

Football curses: witchdoctors, exorcisms and tactical urination

• 
• • Rob Smyth
  • guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 25 April 2012 00.09 BST
  • Article history

Barry Fry: turning the air blue and the grass yellow. Photograph: Laurence Griffiths/Empics Sports Photo Agency

"During his spell as Birmingham City manager, Barry Fry famously urinated on the pitch to break a gypsy curse on the club," starts Lucy Morrissey promisingly. "Are there any other examples of supernatural curses on clubs, and are any stadiums around the world haunted?"

1. More Knowledge: More of Your Football Questions Answered Buy More Knowledge from Guardian Books

Barry Fry knows all about curses, with swear words reportedly accounting for 92.47% of his half-time team-talks. And he did indeed leave his scent in all four corners of the St Andrew's pitch in an attempt to remove a longstanding gypsy curse. "We went three months without winning … We were desperate, so I pissed in all four corners, holding it in while I waddled round the pitch," he said in this interview. "Did it work? Well, we started to win and I thought it had, then they fucking sacked me, so probably not."
Other grounds have been cursed, although mercifully their managers didn't feel the need to paint the grass yellow. When Derby built the Baseball Ground in the 19th century, a group of Romany Gypsies were forced to move from the site. Their response was to place a curse that meant Derby would never win the FA Cup. Soon after, Derby lost three finals in six seasons. When they reached another, against Charlton in 1946, the club captain Jack Nicholson paid Gypsies to lift the curse. With the score 1-1 and extra-time approaching, the ball burst. It is seen as the moment the curse was lifted, and Derby went on to win 4-1.
It's not just grounds that are cursed, as we can see with this story of dead herring from Jostein Nygård. "Back in 1999, a local derby in the Norwegian second division between Alta and Hammerfest ended with the home team winning 2-1," says Jostein. "After the match, Hammerfest heavily criticised the referee, Nils Mikkel Sara, in the local paper. He was not too happy and demanded an apology; if not, he said he would 'gande' the team so that they would lose the rest of their matches and be relegated. (In Norwegian 'gande' or 'ganne' is a term used for Sami curses.) Terje Hansen, who was coaching Hammerfest, ignored the referee.
"Since Hammerfest had enjoyed great start to the season, this didn't seem like a likely outcome, but then they started losing match after match despite dominating most of them. At first the Hammerfest coach assumed they were just unlucky, but then the players started to believe in the curse. After talking to some old locals, the coach tried lifting the curse by sacrificing herring at a sacrificial stone in the area, but it didn't help. He was too stubborn to apologise and, sure enough, they ended up getting relegated.
"Here's a link to a 2005 Dagbladet article on the story (you could try Google translate). Mr Sara is still active as a referee. He has tried his magic skills on several occasions, both at national and international level, but I'm unaware of any other successes."
There was a success involving Australia in 2005, however. "Cursed football teams?" sniffs Matt Leonard. "You simply have to mention the Australian national team, the Socceroos, and their curse from 1969 that was broken in 2005 by the brilliant John Safran. Safran is not a football player, but an Australian football fan and media personality, who travelled to Africa seeking the aid of a witchdoctor to remove the curse. The whole adventure was also captured for one episode of Safran's exceptional TV series 'John Safran vs God'. There is more information here."
Many fans of the Colombian team América de Cali feel the club has been cursed since 1948. A local dentist, one of the club's most passionate fans, was opposed to the idea of the team turning professional. "If the team ever becomes professional," said Benjamin Urrea, better known as Garabato, "I swear to God that no matter what they do they will never be champions."
They did not win a domestic championship for 30 years – at which point, according to the Fifa website, Urrea and a group of fans performed an exorcism at América's stadium. They won their first national title the following season. (Other reports suggest the exorcism was performed by a singer and a journalist after they had won the title.) Either way, it was the first of 12 championships in a golden 23-year period, but many feel the Curse of Garabato still holds: América have never been champions of South America, having finished as runners-up in the Copa Libertadores on four occasions.
We've dealt with juju at the African Cup of Nations before, but if you have any more tales of curses, email knowledge@guardian.co.uk or contact us on Twitter.

Canadian media criticized for irresponsible 'exorcism'

Bishop Donald Bolen and CBC News.

Saskatoon, Canada, Apr 24, 2012 / 02:07 am (CNA).- Canadian news outlets are sensationalizing an event that was not treated as demonic possession and did not prompt a search for an exorcist, according to the Diocese of Saskatoon's communications office.
Communications coordinator Kiply Yaworski told CNA that the public had been misled by “headlines that were completely false,” suggesting that an exorcism had been performed by a local priest in March.
“There was no rite of exorcism,” said Yaworski. “No one here was calling it that.” She said media outlets were erroneously connecting the “blessing of a distraught man” to the topic of possession and exorcism, “just to get people to click on their stories.”
Yaworski was eager to clear up misunderstandings about an event reported by CBC News on April 13, under the headline “Exorcist expertise sought after Saskatoon 'possession'.”
According to CBC News, the incident involved a “shirtless middle-aged man, slouched on a couch and holding his head in his hands,” who had “used a sharp instrument to carve the word 'Hell' on his chest.”
“When the priest entered the room,” the Canadian outlet reported, “the man spoke in the third person, saying 'He belongs to me. Get out of here,' using a strange voice.”
CBC's article acknowledged that the priestly blessing the man received was “not a formal exorcism.” Bishop Donald Bolan, the only Catholic leader named in the article, reportedly said it was unclear whether the man was possessed or merely mentally disturbed.
But his comments were placed alongside those of the unnamed “church leaders,” who were said to be “considering whether Saskatoon needs a trained exorcist” after “a case of what is being called possible demonic possession.”
Yaworski blasted the misleading portrayal of the blessing that had occurred in March, and said Bishop Bolan's considerations about a diocesan exorcist had not been affected by the incident at all.
Bishop Bolan did tell CBC that the diocese was “kind of looking at what the diocese of Calgary does,” with its “special commission for spiritual discernment” which looks into unusual cases. Yaworski explained that these comments were a general reflection, not a response to the March incident.
The spiritual discernment commission in Calgary does not discuss its cases with the media. On April 20, this prompted the Toronto Sun to claim that the Calgary diocese was “working in mysterious ways” with the Church in Saskatoon, through its “shadowy” and “closely-guarded” commission.
Yaworski dismissed the notion of a “shadow” and “mysterious” commission in Calgary, and suggested the media were mistakenly imagining a secretive attitude in cases where the Church simply seeks to protect family and personal privacy.
On April 17, the Saskatoon diocese issued an official statement on the original March occurrence, acknowledging that it had “captured media attention.”
During the incident, the diocese said, “a priest blessed a distraught and emotional man with holy water and prayed with the family, before advising them to call the police.”
In his statement on the matter, Bishop Bolan stressed the reality of supernatural evil, but confirmed that no exorcism had occurred in the March incident.
“In Jesus' ministry there were exorcisms, and so it is not something that we can lightly dismiss,” he said.
“But the headline that the bishop of Saskatoon is looking for an exorcist was a vast oversimplification. Catholic dioceses, like other Christian communities, must look at how best to respond to requests in this area.”
“Our resurrection faith is that life is stronger than death, that God brings hope out of despair and light out of darkness,” Bishop Bolan said. “It is more important to affirm the goodness of the love of God than to speculate about the nature of events such as these.”

Exorcism in Saskatoon (Yes, Exorcism)

Bishop Don Bolen of the Saskatoon Bishop’s office is a man with a B.A. Honours in English and Religious Studies at the University of Regina.  Bishop Bolen also believes in demons and the ability to perform exorcisms and his make-believe fantasies are putting a man’s health at risk.

A case of what is being called possible demonic possession in Saskatoon has prompted local church officials to consider the need for an exorcist.
…
According to church officials, a priest was called to a Saskatoon home by a woman who said her uncle showed signs of being possessed by the devil. The woman believed a priest’s blessing could help the distraught man.
At the home, the priest encountered a shirtless middle-aged man, slouched on a couch and holding his head in his hands.
The man had used a sharp instrument to carve the word Hell on his chest.
When the priest entered the room, the man spoke in the third person, saying “He belongs to me. Get out of here,” using a strange voice.
The priest told CBC News that he had never seen anything like this and was concerned enough to call police, for safety reasons.
He said he then blessed the man, saying he belonged to the good side, to Jesus. With that, the man’s voice returned to normal for a short time.

Welcome to 21st-century Saskatoon, where people believe The Exorcist was a work of non-fiction.  A man who most likely needs psychiatric help will not receive it because his niece believes in monsters and magic.  It’s a shame that in this day and age, with all our knowledge, that people are still relying on these ideas.  Bolen does deserve credit for calling the police, but that’s all he or the niece should have done.  The uncle needs real help, not magic.
It’d be difficult to call this an isolated incident involving one over-zealous priest.

Church leaders in Saskatoon have been considering whether Saskatoon needs a trained exorcist.
The last person in the city with formal training, Rev. Joseph Bisztyo, retired in 2003.
Nor does the Regina archdiocese have an exorcist, so Bolen said they are looking to other locations.

Could it be that they don’t have one because they don’t need one?  When they could be out helping to better the real-world, Church leaders are out chasing around invisible monsters that probably aren’t real.  No wonder many have a hard time taking them seriously these days.
We also need to discuss the embarrassing excuse for journalism on display by the CBC.  The public-run news organization is facing budget cutbacks that will force it to cut programs and staff.  They can start by firing the person behind this report.  Rather than question the statements of the priest or the niece, they take everything at face value.

CBC News followed up on the incident to learn if an exorcism had been performed, but church officials said a formal exorcism did not happen.
Bishop Don Bolen explained that the ritual of exorcism is a very structured exercise. He said it was not clear if the Saskatoon man was possessed or experiencing a mental breakdown.

There is a 99.999999999999% chance that this man was experiencing a mental breakdown.  The certainty in saying this comes from the fact that we have no evidence, zero, zilch that demons exist and can possess humans.  We have plenty of evidence regarding mental breakdowns and the functions of the human brain.  But, the report doesn’t even need to realize that.  All he needed to do was ask questions, press the priest to explain what would make a demonic possession different from a mental breakdown.  Next, the reporter could contact medical health professionals that deal with mental health.  The right expert could provide the information to answer the questions readers of the article may have regarding this incident.  Instead, readers are treated to the promotion of myth and fantasy.