April 3rd, 2002, 09:56 PM
Chaplain chided for exorcism
Ritual violated county jail policy
By Tom Zoellner
The Arizona Republic
March 30, 2002
A jail chaplain who performed an unauthorized exorcism on a Maricopa County jail inmate has been reprimanded by sheriff's officers and told not to do it again.
The Rev. Augustine Edosomwan of Living Water of the Valley Church told officers that he prayed over a female inmate in front of other prisoners and commanded "come out in Jesus' name" in the Estrella Jail on Feb. 26.
Sheriff's officials said the incident violated policies that require non-denominational worship and that prevent inmates from being singled out during religious services.
"I stated that ministry focusing on casting out demons was not allowed in the jails," wrote chaplain's coordinator Mary Falls-Millard in a report of her subsequent meeting with Edosomwan. "The inmates were making fun of the woman he prayed with in the dorms."
The exorcism ritual, which Pentecostals also call a deliverance, might have been allowed had it been done in private and with the proper clearance, said Greg Millard, the administrative chaplain for the county jail system.
"We were concerned about the inmate's security," he said. "Any time an inmate is singled out for something unique, we want their privacy guaranteed."
Edosomwan has promised not to drive out demons on the sheriff's watch any longer.
"It's OK with me the way they handled it," he said in a telephone interview. "I have given it up to God."
Exorcisms are commonly associated with the Roman Catholic Church, where the ritual has been a part of official doctrine since the third century. But the vast majority of today's devil-banishing ceremonies are performed in Pentecostal and some Evangelical churches, where the practice has become increasingly popular since the 1980s.
Unlike the Roman Catholic ritual, which takes several hours to perform and involves holy water, meticulous planning and a trained priest, a Pentecostal deliverance can be a brief affair in which a believer lays his hands on somebody and orders the devil to leave in Jesus' name.
Edosomwan said the scriptural basis for evicting demons is found in the 16th chapter of Mark's gospel: "And these signs shall attend those who believe: In my name, they shall cast out devils."
But not apparently in the Maricopa County jails. Chaplains who volunteer to lead Christian worship are told to keep their services non-denominational and limited to core teachings, Millard said.
Deliverance rituals do not fall into this category because not every Christian church believes in them, he added.
Millard also took issue with the word exorcism to describe the event, saying Edosomwan's action falls short of that definition. But the account in the sheriff's report is consistent with the Webster's New World Dictionary definition of exorcise, meaning "to drive an evil spirit or spirits out with ritual prayers, incantations, etc."
It also was the word chosen by the inmate to describe her experience after she requested prayers from Edosomwan in a church service attended by 30 inmates. The only visible effect she showed was a slight cough.
She said she had worshiped the devil for 20 years but later backed off that statement.
"When pressed what rituals she performed, she recanted, saying that she only thought about the devil, including the viewing of scary-dead movies and singing satanic lyrics in songs," the incident report said.
Edosomwan, a volunteer chaplain in the jails since 1994, was told that conducting public deliverances could result in his dismissal.
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Co-Owner
Bueno Technologies
Ritual violated county jail policy
By Tom Zoellner
The Arizona Republic
March 30, 2002
A jail chaplain who performed an unauthorized exorcism on a Maricopa County jail inmate has been reprimanded by sheriff's officers and told not to do it again.
The Rev. Augustine Edosomwan of Living Water of the Valley Church told officers that he prayed over a female inmate in front of other prisoners and commanded "come out in Jesus' name" in the Estrella Jail on Feb. 26.
Sheriff's officials said the incident violated policies that require non-denominational worship and that prevent inmates from being singled out during religious services.
"I stated that ministry focusing on casting out demons was not allowed in the jails," wrote chaplain's coordinator Mary Falls-Millard in a report of her subsequent meeting with Edosomwan. "The inmates were making fun of the woman he prayed with in the dorms."
The exorcism ritual, which Pentecostals also call a deliverance, might have been allowed had it been done in private and with the proper clearance, said Greg Millard, the administrative chaplain for the county jail system.
"We were concerned about the inmate's security," he said. "Any time an inmate is singled out for something unique, we want their privacy guaranteed."
Edosomwan has promised not to drive out demons on the sheriff's watch any longer.
"It's OK with me the way they handled it," he said in a telephone interview. "I have given it up to God."
Exorcisms are commonly associated with the Roman Catholic Church, where the ritual has been a part of official doctrine since the third century. But the vast majority of today's devil-banishing ceremonies are performed in Pentecostal and some Evangelical churches, where the practice has become increasingly popular since the 1980s.
Unlike the Roman Catholic ritual, which takes several hours to perform and involves holy water, meticulous planning and a trained priest, a Pentecostal deliverance can be a brief affair in which a believer lays his hands on somebody and orders the devil to leave in Jesus' name.
Edosomwan said the scriptural basis for evicting demons is found in the 16th chapter of Mark's gospel: "And these signs shall attend those who believe: In my name, they shall cast out devils."
But not apparently in the Maricopa County jails. Chaplains who volunteer to lead Christian worship are told to keep their services non-denominational and limited to core teachings, Millard said.
Deliverance rituals do not fall into this category because not every Christian church believes in them, he added.
Millard also took issue with the word exorcism to describe the event, saying Edosomwan's action falls short of that definition. But the account in the sheriff's report is consistent with the Webster's New World Dictionary definition of exorcise, meaning "to drive an evil spirit or spirits out with ritual prayers, incantations, etc."
It also was the word chosen by the inmate to describe her experience after she requested prayers from Edosomwan in a church service attended by 30 inmates. The only visible effect she showed was a slight cough.
She said she had worshiped the devil for 20 years but later backed off that statement.
"When pressed what rituals she performed, she recanted, saying that she only thought about the devil, including the viewing of scary-dead movies and singing satanic lyrics in songs," the incident report said.
Edosomwan, a volunteer chaplain in the jails since 1994, was told that conducting public deliverances could result in his dismissal.
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Co-Owner
Bueno Technologies