For background recall that in Revelation 12-13 we have a vision of two Beasts where the second Beast "deceives the inhabitants of the world" causing them to worship and give allegiance to the first Beast (and the Dragon sits behind them both). In this passage Wink is speaking to how the Powers use deception to gain compliance and allegiance. Exorcism, as Wink describes it, is casting out--naming and externalizing--these demonic illusions. In this view, all social resistance begins with exorcism.
Of first significant is the fact that the insights of these chapters are given as revelations. John sees what for others is invisible (13:1,2,11); what has previously been unseen "appears" to him (12:1,3). Discernment does not entail esoteric knowledge, but rather the gift of seeing reality as it really is. Nothing is more rare, or more revolutionary, than an accurate description of reality. The struggle for a precise "naming" of the Powers that assail us is itself an essential part of social struggle.
The seer does not, however, simply read off the spirituality of the empire or an institution from its observed behavior. The situation is more complex. The demonic spirit of the outer structure has already been internalized by the seer, along with everyone else. That is how the empire wins compliance. The seer's gift is not to be immune to invasion by the empire's spirituality, but to be able to discern that internalized spirituality, name it, and externalize it. This drives the demonic out of concealment. What is hidden is now revealed. The seer is enabled to hear her own voice chanting the slogans of the Powers, is shown that they are a lie, and is empowered to expel them. The seer locates the source of the chanting outside, and is set free from them.
