Pastor's 'battle' with witchcraft

A Pentecostal pastor who preaches in North East London told the BBC News website about his experiences of dealing with people involved in witchcraft:

The congregation that I preach to is a small, multi-ethnic one.

It is roughly one-third African, one-third Caribbean and the remaining third are English.

A few weeks ago a Jamaican boy was brought to me by a friend.

He told me that three years ago he had been enticed into witchcraft by a coven of witches, older than himself that he had met at school.

He described to me how he would leave his body at night and travel to different places.

And witchcraft doesn't just involve children:

A Nigerian woman used to come to my church.

Her husband had left her.

So suffering from severe depression and struggling financially, she turned to Ju-ju (Nigerian witchcraft practise). She called on her ancestors to help her regain her life and assist in the restoration of her marriage.

Over a period of six months I saw her go mad.

She started randomly turning on people, speaking completely out of turn.

In the middle of our worshiping the other pastors and I would watch her eyes glaze over and her body stiffen.

We saw demonic manifestations in her.

I appointed one of the elders to watch over her because I was worried the children amongst our congregation might become frightened, or even influenced by her behaviour.

She would sit there, drawing strange pictures, while I preached.

I tried to 'deliver' her. I called her forward for prayer deliverance many, many times.

She wouldn't co-operate though. Our prayer was fruitless.

Angola witchcraft's child victims

Is witchcraft alive in Africa?