He called it a gift from God. Brownsville Pastor Gabriel Villela told Action 4 News he can cast out demons. The evil spirits he claimed hide inside many of us, sometimes making us sick. "God told me, 'Gabriel, if you take bad spirits out of people, the sicknesses they have will go away,'" said Villela. Every Tuesday believers fill a small room in Brownsville. Berta Guillen said she had a thyroid problem. "The doctor had given me all kinds of medications," said Guillen. "The medications weren't helping me." Rolando Garcia said he was addicted to drugs. "A cocaine addict, and I even got to the point where I was smoking crack," said Garcia. It all changed when both met Villela. "The doctor told me, 'I don't know what you took or what happened, but there's nothing wrong with you," said Guillen. "I was liberated of a spirit, a spirit of addiction," said Garcia. Arthritis, depression, even cancer: all are illnesses Villela said he's conquered by expelling demons from members of his flock. Villela said he expels demons an average of 15 times a week. "Right now it's popular," said Doctor Tony Zavaleta, an anthropology professor at the University of Texas at Brownsville. "It's in vogue for people to be possessed by demons." Zavaleta said in the last 20 years, there's been a dramatic increase in people claiming they're possessed. "But the majority of this is an emotional disturbance, some sort of mental health issue," said Zavaleta. Zavaleta said he has seen a case in which a <b>...</b>
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Action 4 News
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Exorcisms
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Amber Dixon
