COME OUT,” commands a 58-year-old man with a shock of silver hair, black jeans and a Queensland tan. With a grim, unwavering stare, he’s attempting to banish demons from the pale young woman beside him on a couch, who says she’s been plagued by spirits for the past seven years.

1. Manual Of Minor Exorcisms Bishop Julian Porteous

Five of us are sitting in a circle in a lounge room in a battler Gold Coast suburb on a dark evening in mid-July. The wooden shutters on the windows are closed.

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Manual Of Minor Exorcisms Bishop Julian Porteous

Mugs of tea and instant coffee, doughnuts and a pile of kiwifruit are on the table in front of us. All eyes are on the young woman. “No, no, no,” she whimpers, “we don’t want to.” Head bowed, with one hand clasping her breast, she trembles and raises her other arm over her face in a defensive gesture. “Come out,” the exorcist repeats more forcefully. “Come out or I’ll burn you.” The verbal wrangling continues, her words resisting and his increasingly stern.

“Come out in the name of Jesus.” The young woman’s right hand curls and becomes rigid. His voice rises. “Let go of her hand.

Let go!” After a few minutes, the young woman raises her hand to her mouth. Fingers straight, she twists her lips open repetitively in scissor motions. Moments later, she leans her head back and blows out an audible breath. A spirit, we’re told, has emerged.