The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON and SANCHESKA BROWN Tribune Staff Reporters sbrown@tribunemedia.net THREE demons are holding the Bahamas hostage and can only be exorcised with prayer, Bishop Neil Ellis, of Mount Tabor Full Gospel Baptist Church, warned last night. The demons were sexual immorality, financial instability and witchcraft. He insisted this information was a revelation from God and nothing to do with him. The controversial Bishop held Bahamians in suspense yesterday, refusing to reveal the three evils until his church was full. Around 7:30pm, a crowded church accommodated the overflow congregation in its parking lot. There, they watched the action on monitors set up for the occasion. Bishop Ellis had earlier told The Tribune how the Lord had "appeared" to him and told him the Bahamas is possessed by three demons, who are the cause for the rising crime levels and immorality. Bishop Ellis said: "In late November, I went on a sabbatical that lasted 10 days. It was just me and the Lord. It was a great refreshing period for me to get closer to Him. "The Lord appeared to me and said a number of things. Since then I have implemented a few of these initiatives in the church that are working great. But there was one thing in particular the Lord showed me that was quite troubling. "He said three demonic spirits have been assigned to the Bahamian people. "God showed me who they were, what they were, where they came from, how they got here and what their assignments are. He also gave me a prayer of release and told me to call a service to deal with the demonic spirits. "The Lord also told me to have the people present to pray the prayer of release." Bishop Ellis said the only way to rid the Bahamas, and "our people", of these demons was for everyone to say the prayer. "You have to be present to say the prayer," he said. "I was told for this assignment not to stream it over the Internet and not to put it on my telecast. I am also not going to broadcast it. I will also only do this once. There is no charge for the service and all are welcome." "Sexual immorality," he told the large crowd, "is the oldest of the three. It's been assigned (to The Bahamas) since the early 1800s. "It has taken root in the lives and psyche of Bahamians." The demon's task - sexual immorality - he said was designed to "keep God's plan for you, from you, destabilise the Bahamian family" and "replace God with himself (the demon)". He said that the demon of sexual immorality was evident in our society when one saw the high level of "promiscuity going on". Fornication and adultery, he said, are "literally glamorised". Speaking of the "sweetheart syndrome" - one of the three sub-assignments under the main assignment of the sexual immorality demon - "has striven and now become accepted as our normal way of life". As for homosexuality and incest, it was "rampant and ragged in the Bahamas", he said. Calling up the second demon --financial instability -- Bishop Ellis said it was a demon "sent directly from hell primarily to enslave the people of the Bahamas. "It was designed," he said, "to keep you working, but keep you broke." "The majority of the people in The Bahamas are one pay cheque away from poverty", he said, adding that there is an agreement between the first two demons. Poverty, caused by demon no 2, "allows demon no 1 to driver persons in poverty to sexual immorality". The last demon, he said, is widespread throughout the Bahamas, as many are operating in "obeah and voodoo. It has been full blown in our country and it has been for some time." The demon of witchcraft, he said, is designed to "manipulate, intimidate, separate, segregate and control", he said. "It is not assigned to kill you. It is designed and assigned to terrorising until it drives you insane." Bishop Ellis said this "demon" uses confusion as one of its major weapons. "This spirit will try to bring confusion to the home, the marriage and the family. There are divorced and separated people who love each other, but can't live together. Witchcraft!" "It enjoys separating people from their friends, their families, their loved ones all in an effort to drive you crazy." The Bishop contended that the spirit from hell was not originally released to target the Bahamas, but it had been imported sometime around the bootlegging era, and has since been "embedded into the belly our of society".