Pastor Rick Morrow of Beulah Church in Richland, Missouri, has received heavy criticism following the comments made during a Wednesday, Sept. 6, sermon. Morrow claimed autism can be treated if you “just cast the demon out.”

“I know a minister who has seen lots of kids that are autistic, that he cast that demon out, and they were healed, and then he had to pray and their brain was rewired and they were fixed,” Morrow told his congregation.

“If it’s not demonic, then we have to say God made them that way,” he continued. “Like that’s the only other explanation. ’Why does my kid have autism?’ Well, either the devil has attacked them, he’s brought this infirmity upon them, he’s got them where he wants them, and/or God just doesn’t like them very much, and he made them that way. Well my God doesn’t make junk. God doesn’t make mess ups.”

“I have been told that autism is a blessing from God. I have been told that I’m the evil one,” Morrow said. “But you know what? If I was to stand up here and say cancer is junk, people would agree. If I were to stand up here and say addiction is junk, people would agree.”

Morrow resigned from his Board of Education position on Tuesday, KY3 reported. Stoutland Schools said in a statement to KY3 that Morrow’s comments do “not speak for the Board of Education as a whole, nor the district itself."