gross@dg-rtp.dg.com (Gene Gross) (04/03/91)
I've been reading the articles on demon possession with some interest. What I'm about to relate I have testified to before. However, I will not reveal the names of others involved because I do not have their permission to do so. Whether you believe is strictly up to you, but I tell you that I am an eyewitness to these events and was a participant in what occured. In the early 70s, I was working in an outreach mission with runaways and drug users. This was in a major Southern city. During one spring, we managed to get an evangelist to come and conduct a series of meetings through the city at various churches of different denominations. As the finale, we held a major meeting at the downtown civic center. As one of the ministers involved, I was at the civic center very early on helping to set up for the folks who would be attending. We had about an hour of prayer that was the most uplifitng experience that I had had that whole day. I felt very charged and filled with the Spirit. About 45 minutes before the service was to start, a young man came in and began to wander the auditorium. He started off, from the initial reports, just staring at people and once in a while making faces. But he soon began to utter statements that were clearly disturbing to many. It was far more than profanity -- he was revealing some deep secrets of people that were there. These were secrets so deeply buried that more than one person became frightened by this. And what he revealed was not like what runs in the daily horoscope -- sort of the general sins of humanity thing. No, he was naming names and places and dates. Knowledge that was beyond his ability to know, unless he had been there personally, which meant that he had to be omnipresent. Finally, the senior pastor in charge of the event asked me and another person to tend to this. We approached this young man and asked him if we could talk with him. I still recall his answer, "Sure, if you leave Jesus out of this." I told him that I could not do that. Then my co-minister asked him why we shouldn't talk about Jesus. He said that he would have to leave if we did. Meanwhile, we slowly moved him toward the front of the auditorium where there were some stairs that led backstage. We had two rooms set aside for prayer. We got the young man to accompany us into one of the rooms. There was no one in there at the time. There was nothing to indicate that anyone had been praying in this room -- it looked more like a break room with the food and drinks all over the place. As he walked into the room, he stiffened and said that he wasn't comfortable in this room. Why, I asked him. Because you Christians have been praying too hard in this room. So, I asked him if he was afraid of Christians praying -- no he said -- he wasn't afraid of anything. We sat down in some folding chairs and began to talk. Meanwhile, my co-minister went and asked several other ministers to join us. As they walked into the room, the young man began a change the likes of which I'd not seen before. I watched, as did three other ministers, as his eyes went from brown to red (not a reflection of light -- his eyes were in fact red) and his voice changed to a deep bass voice that sounded very distant yet somehow right there. At this point, there were five ministers in the room, four of whom pastored local churches. Three of us began to pray silently, while the other two engaged this person in conversation. As we prayed, this young man turned his head and looked at us and demanded that we stop praying. One of the ministers who was talking to him demanded to know his name. This young man turned and looked at him and said, "Here, I tell you a secret ...." And he related a secret sin that this minister had been hiding from all. I hesitate to relate it, but so that you understand the knowledge that this young man possessed I will. The minister had been taking money from the church. The young man not only stated this, but he told him when and how much he had taken. One of the others commanded that demon, for at that point we did not doubt that we were dealing with a demon, be silent in the name of Jesus Christ. We asked the minister whom the young man had addressed to leave the room. Once he was gone, we turned back to the young man and demanded that the demon give us his name. He said that he really preferred not to do that. One of the young ministers without thinking asked why not. Because, the young man explained, that would give us power over him and he had lived in this young man's body for a long time and found it a good home. We told the young minister to not talk with the demon. In the end, we commanded the demon to leave the building and not return. This he did. The young man refused to accept Jesus Christ and we could not break through because the possession was voluntary. This was my first experience with demon possession. Now, those who doubt the existence of Satan, demons, and the possibility of demon possession do so at their own peril. I personally do not believe that demon possession is as common as some might believe, but I know it to be a fact. Nor do I believe that all cases of mental illness are necessarily demon possession. There are certain things that accompany demon possession -- one of them is knowledge that the person simply could not have by natural means. I know that this story will not convince anyone who refuses to accept the existence of the spiritual realm, or those who believe that the Bible references to Satan and demons and demon possession are not literal but symbolic. I can only testify to what I've seen with my own two eyes. Believe or not, I know that Satan and the demons to exist, and they have a unique, singular hatred of humanity and anything created by YHWH. I will gladly answer questions, as work permits, via email. En Christo, Gene
jhpb@garage.att.com (Joseph H Buehler) (04/04/91)
There's a book floating around in this country about four exorcisms that happened here. I don't want to give any details because the book is quite graphic, and certainly shouldn't be read by young people. Suffice it to say that it's by a NY Times bestseller author. The book starts out with a scene from China in the 1930's or so. The police have been looking for a murderer, and have finally found him holed up in a wharehouse. But the man's parish priest happened to find him first, and is engaged in an exorcism when the police find the warehouse. The man had been killing people and EATING them. He had their bodies all stacked up in the warehouse (no doubt for a midnight snack?). The exorcism failed. The warehouse burned down (for some reason I've forgotten) with the man in it. The last scenes were quite ghastly. Gene Gross gave one sign of possession -- knowledge of sins that only an angel could be aware of. Another one is the knowledge of languages that the person in question has never studied. Possessed people also act strangely near sacred objects. For example, in one of the cases in the book I mentioned above, a possessed woman was visited by her brother. She went off into another room. Meanwhile, he put a crucifix under her bed. She came back, and and sat on the bed. And went into convulsions. Demons are things that I never, Never, NEVER want to have anything to do with. They hate, Hate, HATE *all* human beings. People think that anyone can be reasoned with -- they don't know what a devil is. If you've ever seen the movie "The Exorcist", it's pretty true to life, from what I've read, and from what I remember of the movie.
psburns@lims03.lerc.nasa.gov (MAUREEN BURNS) (04/05/91)
In article <Apr.4.01.22.57.1991.15388@athos.rutgers.edu>, jhpb@garage. att.com > stuff about a exorcism book deleted > > I can see why all the horror portrayed in the movies and books about exorcism and evil demons would cause you to NEVER want to have anything to do with them. But the really scary part is that Satan does some of his most effective work in EXTREMELY SUBTLE ways. Like temptation. Like lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh and the pride of life. Remember in Isaiah, it describes that it was the sin of pride that cast Satan out of heaven in the first place. BTW, I think that the object of Satan's hate is not mankind, but God. He is intent on stealing away from God the very creation that God is passionatley in love with, i.e. the very soul and spirit of a human being. He's been quite successful. There's lots of people who have died and entered an eternity without God, because they refused to accept and invite Jesus into their lives. Maureen Burns