Myths on exorcism

Today I witnessed an oppression.
Oppression is an external attack by spirits to a person.

I was scared, really!  I am not even sure if I was of any help.  What are the myths on exorcism that I'd like to tackle?

1.  Only priest can perform exorcism?
A half truth!  We have a private exorcism or private deliverance prayers that the lay people can use.  We must bear in mind that prayer must be with faith and not superstition.  Its hard to see if the prayer was whole done with faith or superstition during a deliverance session.

2.  Praying over a person will immediately remove the demonic oppression / possession (both terms are different theologically speaking).
Blame that on our culture of instant gratification.  We wanted cure instantly.  If our prayers are not answer immediately we either sulk or lose faith.  Deliverance may even take hours or even years.  its not for people with little patience.

After I was saying deliverance prayers, someone asked me if the Gideon's Bible may have contributed to what happened (some students were playing spirit of the coin, a poor man's version of the spirit of the glass).  

It goes without saying that we must acquaint ourselves more with our faith.  The good news? The fact that almost everyone took a knee and prayed. Now, that in itself was power!

May the Holy Spirit keep you safe!