Kritikk: Virksomheten til det Storbritannia baserte Ellel Minestries som har en rekke lokalavdelinger både i Vest-Europa og Øst-Europa møter stadig mer kritikk fra grupper som jobber med å hjelpe ofre for nyreligiøse sekter, og virksomheten som blant annet tilbyr hjelp til å takle demoner. I følge kritikere av Ellel bedriver gruppen et livsfarlig spill overfor homofile som får høre at deres seksuelle tilbøyeligheter er et resultat av demoner. Andre igjen beskylder Ellel for å praktisere samme teknikker som blir brukt av ny-religiøse kulter og mange er bekymret. «Jeg har en venn som ble involvert i denne gruppen og som etterpå har droppet all kontakt med venner og med de aller fleste i familien. Jeg har en følelse av at denne gruppen er en sekt som bevist jobber med å fremkalle skyld for gamle synder, og for å rette på dette tilbyr de eksorsisme eller demonutdrivelse,» skriver en tidligere venn av en person som er involvert i gruppen. Ellel Ministries avdeling i Budapest skal blant annet ha kurset og veiledet Oslokirken i forhold til det demoniske, og i 2006 hadde Oslokirken besøk av Roger & Christine Pook fra Ellel Budapest.

Ellel Ministry møter nå kritikk i enkelte anti-kult miljøer etter at flere er begynt å stille kritiske spørsmål med virksomheten til organisasjonen. Kritikken som blir rettet mot gruppen går på at mennesker som kommer i kontakt med gruppen nærmest blir manipulert til å føle skyld, slik at en eksorsisme blir nødvendig. «En venn av meg kom i kontakt med gruppen ble negativt forandret, han har brutt kontakten med gamle venner og nær sagt hele familien og gruppen ser ut til å manipulere frem kunstig skyldfølelse over gamle  synder, slik at ofrene kun kan frelses gjennom en eksorsisme for å bli kvitt demonene. «Denne gutten var egentlig den snilleste man kan tenke seg, men etter at han kom i kontakt med Ellel har han helt brutt kontakten og svarer verken på tekstmeldinger eller oppringning. Etter at han ble med i gruppen vil han knapt ha kontakt med sine foreldre og det kan se ut som om gruppens leder Peter Horrobin (foto), krever blind underkastelse og null kritikk. De som kommer i kontakt med gruppen ser ut til å være i behov av slike runder med eksorsisme ofte, og min gamle venn har gått gjennom minst fire slike eksorsisme-seanser som de kaller «Never Ever The Same»  (NETS) som minner om indoktrinering, skriver en pårørende som er bekymret for sin venns mentale tilstand.

Økende kritikk mot Ellel

Eksorsisme i regi av Ellel høres kanskje dramatisk ut for dem som ikke er kjent eller har erfaring fra møter med demoniske krefter. En av dem som har gode erfaringer med Ellel Ministries virksomhet, er pastor Jan-Aage Torp i Oslokirken. Oslokirken har ved flere anledninger hatt besøk av representanter fra Ellel og har bare gode erfaringer med den undervisning de har fått.. Internasjonalt har kritikken mot Ellel økt i intensivitet og i følge «Cult Awareness» får gruppen kritikk fordi de hevder at homofili er besettelse av demoner. I følge Jill Southern som representerer gruppen ligger årsaken til homofili i det at den homofile er blitt utsatt for seksuelle overgrep under oppveksten. «Seksuelle overgrep skaper et ugudelig bånd mellom offeret og overgriperen og slik blir døren for onde ånder åpnet,» sa Jill Southern i Ellel til BBC.

Det har også blitt skrevet en rekke kritiske artikler om Ellel, og Trena Gisborn skrev for litt over to år siden en lengre artikkel som har fått tittelen: «Den okkulte grunnvollen til Ellel Ministries farlige praksis,»  I kritikken fra Gisborn blir Ellels praksis gjennom teknikken «indre helbredelse gjennom utfrielse» ansett som direkte farlig fordi den er knyttet opp mot den farlige læren til  Derek Prince om dette med teorien om at forbannelser kan følge slekten. Peter Horrobin som har grunnlagt Ellel lærer blant annet at kristne kan bli inntatt av demoner, dette på tross av at det ikke finnes belegg for dette i Bibelen.

Hovedkritikken mot Ellel er dels at det er basert på okkult tenkning og dels på at mennesker ikke får virkelig hjelp av den teknikk Ellel benytter. I virkeligheten bedriver Ellel en form for livsfarlig psykoterapi og derfor får mennesker ikke varig hjelp av det som bringes til torgs i Ellel. Pasientene eller ofrene for Ellel må vanligvis møte opp til mange og jevnlige seanser på et av Ellels sentre, -og dette har medført at det blir opprettet et farlig bånd mellom pasient/offer og behandler som utnytter dette til å skape farlige bindinger. Gjennom å grave i fortiden blir gamle tabber, synd og erfaringer igjen og igjen gravd frem, -for at man så skal få en indre helbredelse gjennom Ellels utfrielses-teknikk.

Forsvarer Ellel

Imidlertid har flere kristne ledere hatt god erfaring med materiellet fra Ellel. Her i Norge har blant annet Oslokirken blitt kurset av folk fra Ellel og i en tidligere samtale med Søkelys uttrykte pastor Torp at de hadde gode erfaringer med Ellel. Også andre kan fortelle at kritikken mot Ellel virker søkt og uriktig og vitnesbyrdene fra dem som har fått hjelp av Ellel er relativt mange, og derfor kan kritikken som fremkommer virke både urettferdig og feil. Imidlertid finnes det også en side ved Ellel som ikke er like tillitvekkende og vi gjengir nedenfor en kvinnes fortelling.

En historie fra Ellel Grange som ryster

Because it was also one of the major influences in that dark period of my life, I want to share with you my nightmare experience with the «deliverance» ministry called Ellel Grange. I am telling you this because I think it is important that others realise the truth about this place. In 1991, I was pregnant with my daughter. My husband and I had heard that an organization that had a healing and deliverance ministry was setting up a branch in the South of England in a huge manor house. We were very excited as both of us had bad backs.There was a meeting about it, which we attended. I went forward to be prayed for and they said I had a Kundalini spirit on my spine (Kundalini is a kind of snake of coiled energy in Hindu spirituality). They said it was not right to pray much now but they «bound» it and told me to see them when I had had my baby when they were properly installed at Glyndley Manor.

1992 came and I gave birth to my daughter. I decided to go for an interview with them. There were two ladies who asked much about my childhood. They arranged an appointment with a couple. This was to be one of many lasting about six months, going to all the conferences they had there and experiencing the ministry. Most of the sessions I attended with this couple lasted from 10 o’clock in the morning till 9 at night. I was exhausted by the end of each session. Basically they were taking me back on one side to the Valkuries in the Northern hemisphere. They had apparently thrown their babies over a cliff and aborted many and their souls were trapped in my body. They got me to visualise these things and I started to see them. It got very scary.

On another side there were flying carpets! Yes! Going back to the Far East. Before long, I had hundreds of demons which they were expelling every time. It got to the stage that if they’d have said «Marks and Spencer» I would have had it.
By now they said there were covens in the spirit world around me and power points through which they were getting into me. They had talks with people above them and it was decided that I was in such a bad state that I needed to go to their other healing centre at Ellel Grange in the North of England. So a time was set for me to go: July 1993. That was about three weeks away. So when the time came, I said good bye to my 10 year old son, toddler daughter and husband, and off I went.

When I got there, I was told that I was the second person to have this type of ministry. The Director had done this to one lady and she had then done it to another woman. Then there was another, who couldn’t cope, but they thought I could. I arrived in this wing off the stables. It was built for this purpose. It had a kitchen, lounge and one bedroom and bathroom. I was to have one lady sleep in the same bedroom as me. The man who had been counselling me at the South of England branch had also come to stay in the Grange and came to all the meals and sessions with me.

It was like a mental hospital. I was locked in and only allowed out with two people with me. All meals were served on my lap from the Grange kitchen. Most ministry did not get going till 10 p.m. at night because the main counsellor who had had this done to her by the Director was a night person, so I was told. I was not. They said I had many children trapped in me from various stages in my childhood. Each night they bound them down until they were ready to come out. I soon realized that If I didn’t co-operate I would never get free of these people and this «mental hospital». The main thrust was I had to get in touch with my anger. Large pillows were provided. I had to get into a mode where I was thumping them and then my anger would be released.

At about 10 p.m., under the personal instruction of the Director, a pork chop arrived on its own on a plate which I had to eat in front of everyone. By now there were three women and two men «ministering» to me. All accept one of these people collapsed themselves and exhibited strange manifestations and it was mayhem. It was just like a really crazy mental hospital. The only relief was the beautiful walks in the grounds and by the river — but of course there were always three of us. One of them even had to stand outside the toilet waiting for me.

It came to a climax in the third week. I had bruised and bleeding elbows, hands and knees. I had not reached where they wanted me to go. This night the lady in charge started to bully me intensely to make me react and fight back. I just kept on collapsing in hysterics on the floor. Hour after hour this went on, bullying, name calling, pushing and shoving. Still I kept on crying and ended up in a heap. Then the worst thing happened. She climbed on top of me pretending she was going to abuse me (I had been abused in my past by a woman and she knew this). I simply couldn’t take anymore. I was confused and very scared. So, at about 3 a.m. in the early hours I snapped and went for her. She was thrilled. I’d finally made it. They took a photo. I was sweaty and horrible.

The next day they finished it off.

They said they would hold a children’s tea party for the children in me. They did so, and invited another man who was to be a little boy at my party who had also exhibited manifestations and had the little children in him too. I had to regress and have fun like a child. I actually felt like one. It was weird. Then they called them all out, starting at age three. They then asked each child who was behind until I’d grown up.

The next day they said I’d finished and the doors were unlocked. Meanwhile it seemed that there were problems with my counsellors. Some were in tears when I saw them. There were words. Three days passed and I was ignored and left to myself. I then asked the man who had brought me up there, who had counselled me with his wife, what was going on. Apparently, they had all been in trouble with the Director because of the way the ministry had gone on and that even the counsellors were exhibiting manifestations.

I drove home the next day feeling vulnerable, and that was that. A few weeks later, I went to an open day at Glyndley Manor and was told that heads were rolling over the way my ministry was carried out. The Director then apologised to me via someone else. They stopped this ministry and carried on with it in a less intense way. Meanwhile my husband had ministry with them and was very unhappy with the way he was taken back several generations. We came straight out of all this into the large Toronto Blessing church which I wrote about in the previous section. Out of the frying pan into the fire. In 1998, we left that church and tried to get help. It was suggested that we try Ellel Grange again, because they said that had improved! So I did and then received similar ministry. Soon after this I contracted Meningitis, resulting in brain damage, and my husband was also rushed into hospital with an Embolism.

We are now in a Baptist church and three months ago I went up for prayer. The same man who took me up to Ellel Grange was there in our church in a ministry position. He talked with me and said that he still ministers and teaches at Ellel. He then told me that my meningitis is caused by part of someone’s spirit entering me who I had contact with in the past who had meningitis. Of course this was the Lady Pastor in the previous church. She recovered quickly though. Here we are now, confused and vulnerable but determined to be free.

Er dette virkelig kristen virksomhet eller ufarlig slik enkelte hevder? Vårt svar er nei.