An investigation into the phenomena and practices of spiritual ...

In the observation example quoted above it was not the Pastor who was praying for the„demon possessed‟ person. It was not the moderator who recognized the needs of thisperson; it was members of the congregation who believed that they had the power and theauthority to pray with her. Influencing them may have been the readily available work ofthe evangelist Munroe (2002) who asserts that “We must be able to legally use theauthority behind the power of Jesus to obtain results in prayer” citing the violentconfrontation that Peter had with the evil or demonic spirit in Acts 19. The Pastor and themoderator accepted the power and authority of these praying women and allowed theservice to be interrupted so that this person could receive prayer for healing.As noted above, Bourguignon (1976: 113) warns that we should not fail to look forcommon neuro-physiological processes in cases of spirit possession, whatever our ownview of their cultural construction. The spirit which possessed the person in Mark 5appeared to be self-destructive as he was in the mountains ”cutting himself with stones”and ran to worship Jesus as well as denouncing Him. This suggests the possibility of anabnormal mental state, a personality disorder or, in psychological terms, a psychoticillness. In spiritual terms it is possible that there was a disturbed spirit where healing andwholeness can be afforded to the sufferer through the intervention of Jesus.6.8 Healing from the Suffering of RejectionWe have discussed above how psychological rejection causes an emotional imbalance andtherefore a homeostatic physical imbalance in varying degrees. The emotional response topain is subjective and cannot be easily explained. The causes of suffering may be hidden,as in the multiple legacies of slavery addressed above, which may give rise to the notion of216