Demons be gone: meeting America’s new exorcists

Deliverance warriors believe that problems such as illness and poverty are the result of spiritual sickness, not earthly afflictions. Photograph: Adriana Zehbrauskas/The Guardian

There are only three things you need to get Satan out of your life: a bucket, a pen and Brother Mike’s two-page questionnaire.

Unlike those megachurch preachers and their plastic smiles, Brother Mike Smith doesn’t make outlandish claims – not in his mind, at least. He’s not peddling “crap”, he says. As the leader of a modest ministry he calls Hardcore Christianity in downtown Phoenix, Arizona, he only claims that he can set you free from demons 100% of the time – if you follow his instructions to the letter.