By Fr. Justin Clemente. December 5, 2022.
A couple weeks back, Fr. Patrick Cunningham and I were asked to come and do a House Cleansing for a woman I met in the community. Yes, you heard right – a house cleansing.
I had met this woman through my community walks. I knocked on her door one day, and it was clear that my knock was providential. The Lord was at work in her life – under very hard circumstances – to bring her back into fellowship with himself. As I stood on her front porch, I prayed for her, that she would know her need to be well-shepherded in the Faith.
We kept in touch off and on, but nothing much else came of it. But then, she phoned one day to tell me that she had gotten serious about her faith and that weird things were happening in her home.
Well, this led to Fr. Patrick and I (BTW: I am so grateful for his help – he was a shoulder to lean on here) spending over two hours with her, praying through every living space, closet, nook and cranny in her home. We asked the Lord to expel the enemy and every evil influence, making the home instead a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit. She felt deeply ministered to – she later followed up to tell me that she is at peace in the home.
Only, it really wasn’t the home that was the problem. As we chatted over some snacks she provided for us, she went on to tell us about her background in Santeria – a spiritually deadly concoction of demon worship. Although she had previously broken ties with the woman who trained her in Santeria, she had never publicly renounced this dark art. Wisely, Fr. Patrick led her in a public renunciation of Santeria. In this case, it seems it was more a matter of her own background than anything that previously happened in the home.
A few takeaways:
First, pray for this woman! Pray that she continues to follow Jesus! Her enthusiasm for the Lord is clearly evident in her life and she needs to walk that out with biblical and thorough discipleship in the local church.
Second, let us never underestimate the power of our witness. This ministry started with a simple knock on the door.
Third, and perhaps most profound, is the need for training in this type of spiritual warfare. As our culture drifts further from the values of God’s Kingdom, the gaping void will be filled by all kinds of false worship. Humankind was created to worship – and worship we will. Paradoxically, as our culture hardens into the mold of secularism, I believe that people will increasingly open themselves up to they no not what. The church needs to be ready to proclaim liberty to the captives in Jesus’ Name!