A prominent deliverance minister is cautioning parents to monitor what their children are watching on their devices, as several Jamaican children are believed to be cutting themselves as part of the initiation process to join cults they have come across online.
Bishop Dr. Grace O. Ade-Gold, who has a deliverance clinic in Kingston, has interacted with some of these children over the years. She noted that some have given over their souls to the devil by being a part of blood pacts where they cut themselves and exchange blood with each other.
“There are some that are cutting themselves because they got an instruction; they are hearing voices as a result of programmes they have watched that are demonic,” she told the Freedom Come Rain newspaper.
The Bishop recalled one case involving a teenage boy whose sister sought her intervention after seeing him heading to the back of their yard with a jar and a knife.
“He said that he found a site, and he was instructed to do that. To cut himself, put the blood in that jar and use a pen to touch the blood like ink, and then sign up his name on a form that they sent to him, and then he should send back the form to them,” she said.
She said the boy had been getting into a lot of trouble with the law and was skipping school. He had been interacting with the online group for some time and had even sent passport-size photos of himself to them as requested. At the bottom of the form to be signed with his blood was the disclaimer that he would never get the chance to see Jesus Christ.
“With prayers and everything, we broke and destroyed the power, and he got baptised,” said Bishop Ade-Gold.
She noted that when the children are initiated, they are unable to control themselves. She recalled another case involving a boy who often locked himself in his room. He would not allow any of his family members to enter his room, which was very dark. He also prevented relatives from turning on the light and often declared that he loved darkness.
Through counselling, the boy disclosed that three evil angels sometimes visited him. He referred to them as his “imaginary friends.”
“He said they actually come to his home and talk to him and tell him things before it happens,” she said, before pointing out that, “Sometimes they take him on a journey. Sometimes he might find himself flying and can’t control it.”
One day he dreamt about being taken to a place where other people were being seared with an hot iron.
While data is not available to suggest the extent of this practice of self-cutting locally, the phenomenon is said to have ballooned during COVID-19, when school was shuttered and students got free reign to spend hours online. There are reports of the phenomenon across several schools.
While health experts argue that self-harm is one of the ways children release pressure, Bishop Ade-Gold feels it has a spiritual basis.
“It’s a demonic problem. The root of it is not mental, but it causes mental problems,” she shared.
She said demons are getting access to children through different means. These include what they wear, eat, and put on their bodies. This is also done through tattoos.
“Evil is multiplying on the face of the earth, and they are getting access through one way or the other,” said Bishop Ade-Gold who has been doing deliverance services since 1996.
“My advice to parents is to ensure that they monitor what their children are exposed to—what they watch. Because of the jobs and people having to go to work and so forth, sometimes they are gone and the children are left to watch all kinds of things. Things that will not help them, like witchcraft and pornography,” said Bishop Ade-Gold.