Demon Possession
FROM THE FIELD June 3, 2013
DEMON POSSESSION
We know that the evil angels did possess the bodies of people in Jesus’ day. The devil and his were trying to rival our Lord in His power. Of course in each case when our Lord came up against demon possession, the demons lost. It is entirely possible that evil angels can today trouble people’s bodies as back then. While we do not claim to have the power of our Lord and that which He gave back then to cast out demons, we do have prayer to the almighty, loving Lord as a viable avenue to seek His help in everything.
Let me relate to you what I have seen so far.
Some years back Pastor V. S. Benjamin and I were at one of his pastor’s services. This Pastor Jesuratnam was trying to, so he said later, cast out a demon from a woman. Naturally he was praying. He also had her by the hair and yanked her back and forth as he prayed. I mentioned to Pastor Benjamin that it appeared Jesuratnam was trying to pull the demon out. I seriously doubt that the woman was possessed by an evil spirit. The evil spirits in the biblical record have immense power over the body, casting it into the fire and the water, breaking chains, controlled by no man. The seven sons of Sceva were beaten up by the evil spirit in the man they tried an exorcism on. A ratio of 1:7 indicates a lot of power.
One time in Nigeria we were holding a service in a house of a village were we were trying to start a congregation. As I was speaking a man came up and stared at me and started to act strangely. His mumbling turned into loud talking and gesticulations of his arms. Somebody said that he had an evil spirit. A couple men came up and subdued him tying his hands and feet and setting him over in a corner. He put up a fight but was overcome by two men. I doubt he had an evil spirit. I did go over to him and pray over him that the devil would not have power over him.
Pastor D. Paul and I went to the house of a member once whose wife was said to have an evil spirit. From my work in a mental hospital for several years I considered that she had some mental derangement. We tried to talk to her, but she went to a corner of the room and just looked around at us periodically. We did pray for her and her husband.
I have prayed for many people who it is claimed had an evil spirit. But if they were before me and I was able to put my hand on the head and pray to Jesus about them, I doubt an evil spirit was present. At some of our open air meetings there have been a few on the periphery of the crowd which was meeting who some claimed had an evil spirit. Those I ignored even when they did some crazy things.
I remember one time with Pastor Bas we were praying over a man who supposedly had an evil spirit, but he allowed me to put my hand on him and speak to Jesus. We had just come into the village and met this man. In this case as in others I try to look the people in the eye and convey eyeball to eyeball the love of Jesus and His healing power from everything as I speak and pray.