THE PARANORMAL COMPENDIUM
(Unpublished
rough draft, last updated 26 June
2001)
Most people have stories much like
these. Why are people so intrigued with these kinds of stories? Part
of our interest stems from being curious beings - we want to know the answers to
unknown things. But even deeper than that is our quest for God, which lies
within the depths of every human heart (Romans
1:18-25). It's that hunger for God we often misinterpret as a hunger
to find something that we aren't sure we're looking for. Do you feel
it? Are you on this Web page searching for something - yet you're not
quite sure what it is? Can it be truth? Consider the ultimate truth
- the "Way, the Truth, and the Life" (John
14:6). Truth became a human being once. He was, and still is the
"Word made flesh" (1 John
1:1-14). Do you want to know more about who this incarnation of Truth
is? Click HERE.
Now for those that already have a relationship with the individual
alluded to above - this mysterious figure who dwarfs all other mysteries, your
quest is complete; you are on an amazing adventure with God. But perhaps
you may still be curious about small mysteries (compared to God), such as
those listed below. Perhaps it isn't enough to know that your knowledge
will be complete one day (1
Corinthians 13:8-12). For whatever reason peaks your interest, here's
a general list of stories and articles I've compiled throughout my
life.
Be warned - it's highly possible that you won't
believe many of these stories. If this is the case, please don't email me
and warn me about the spiritual consequences of lying. I'm fully aware of
my accountability to Jesus Christ. I tell you that these stories I
experienced myself are completely true, as profoundly strange as they are.
As for those stories that I haven't experienced personally, I've included only
those that come from what I consider to be the most reputable
sources.
Astral Projection
The time I was surrounded by 6
beings
Many moons ago, I once purchased a
book titled "Out of Body Experiences" by Dr. Robert Monroe. While reading
this book I became utterly fascinated with the prospect of astral
projection. I wondered why Robert Monroe didn't do so many things I
would've done had the same bizarre phenomenon of astral projection been
occurring with me. Why would such a gift be given to someone that had no
imagination with which to use it? For example, why didn't he fly
invisibly to Area 51 and see what is there! How come he never tried to
check out the bottom of the ocean at the Bermuda Triangle, or even investigate
some other planets in the universe to see if there's life out there? After
all, according to Robert Monroe himself, the 'spirit' body isn't impeded by
limitations normally afforded the physical body. In spiritual form, Robert
Monroe claimed to be able to melt through walls and other physical barriers, and
he could also fly. Things as fundamental as breathing, atmospheric
pressure, and mass density, according to Robert Monroe, aren't native to the
spiritual form. So my question remains: why did he waste most of his out
of body travels going to other dimensions - where nothing he would learn about
those places could ever be verified, or even used? For example, if he
discovered secrets about THIS WORLD, he could at least DO SOMETHING with that
knowledge.
One simple answer for Robert Monroe's lack of
ingenuity concerning his astral expeditions is that his experiences weren't
authentic and he simply wanted to make money as a writer. I wasn't going
to rule out this conclusion, but I wanted to see if there was really something
to this astral projection stuff. (As you will see, I've come to the
conclusion that Robert Monroe isn't just making this stuff up). Something
I wanted to do in particular was to attend a church in 'Spirit' form during a
Holy Ghost revival in order to receive special revelation from God, speak with
angels, or even see and/or travel to the Kingdom of Heaven! (I can see
God rolling His eyes at me. "Why don't you just PRAY to me!!!" He was
probably yelling...)
I had my fears about astral projection - i.e.,
primarily 'DEATH !!!', (not being able to get back to my physical
body), but my curiosity led me into the dark recesses of mad scientist
experimentation. I followed steps in another book I bought, "The
Astral Projection Workbook", and after about a week, something happened. I
fell asleep going through my 'exercises', and woke up in the middle of the night
with a strange sensation all over my body. I felt like I was floating
above my bed, but my 'spiritual' feet were still stuck in my physical
body. While struggling with my feet, I tried to relax and simply let
go. At the moment I started to relax, I immediately became aware of a
terrifying situation; my bed was surrounded by 6 beings. I didn't want
anything to do with anything I couldn't identify, so I tried to break the spell
but found I was completely paralyzed. I became even more gripped with
terror because of the paralysis, and struggled with every ounce of my strength
to move. Finally my head barely began to move and the spell instantly
dissipated. I sat up in bed shaking with fear. I never could see
what those things were, but they felt wicked, and I was horribly afraid of
them. I declared that I'd never experiment with astral projection
again! (Unfortunately in my stubbornness, it didn't end here).
READ: Romans 6:21-23 (Seeking God is
a good motive, but doing it any other way than His Way is
sin)
21What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye
are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. 22But
now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit
unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. 23For the wages of sin
is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Caught up in euphoria
A few years had passed since the incident
with the 6 beings, (read more in "The
time I was surrounded by 6 beings"), so I figured I was up to another
round of astral experimentation. On ONE RARE occasion I actually
had what I'd consider a euphoric experience. I fell asleep going through
the various 'exercises', and had a dream that I met an Indian next to a river in
the wilderness. Then Indian was holding onto a canoe that was floating in
the river, and when he pulled it up onto the river bank, I felt a surge of
energy pulse through my body. (I have no idea what the connection was
between his actions and my sensation). I thought I was completely out
of my body, but then opened my eyes and saw that I was still lying in bed.
I was disappointed to find myself still in my physical body. This minor
experience fueled my efforts for more astral projection experimentation.
READ: 2 Corinthians
11:13-14
13For such are false apostles, deceitful workers,
transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 14And no marvel;
for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 15Therefore
it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of
righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
In a closet with a mirror
I wasn't getting the results I wanted with the
astral projection exercises I was using, so I decided to try one of the other
methods for out of body travel prescribed in my astral projection
workbook. For a quick background on how and why I started experimenting
with astral projection, (read more in "The
time I was surrounded by 6 beings").
For the new method, I tried using a mirror in
the dark in order to reach into the spirit world. I took a large mirror
and placed it inside my bedroom closet, closed all the window shades in the
bedroom, and waited until dark. I then placed a chair in front of the
mirror inside the closet, seated myself in the chair inside my closet, then slid
the closet doors shut. I had some towels on hand and quickly stuffed them
into all the cracks, so that not one tiny bit of light was shown inside the
closet.
Once everything was set and I was all settled
in, I stared into the opaque mirror in the pitch black closet. It seemed
like I was staring into a bottomless pit. I didn't last 30 seconds in that
closet! Immediately I felt the presence of some incredibly powerful,
incredibly evil presence come rushing toward me like a hurricane. My chest
tightened up, chills shot through my body and I almost puked! I scrambled
for the door, leaped out of that closet and flipped on the bedroom light
switch. I was sick with fear and kicked myself for being stupid enough to
even try this experiment. I had a bad feeling about it from the start, but
stubbornly refused to listen to those guardian angels that were probably
shouting through spiritual megaphones trying to get through to me. Come to
think of it, I was ignoring what spiritual sensitivity I did have - (THE GOOD
KIND) - in order to seek a spiritual sensitivity that wasn't good for me!
READ: Deuteronomy
18:10-12
10There shall not be found among you any one that
maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth
divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,
11Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or
a necromancer. 12For all that do these things are an abomination unto
the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out
from before thee.
Taken with unimaginable fear
I didn't quit with the mirror exercise for
astral projection, (mentioned above under "In
a closet with a mirror"). I convinced myself that it was the
mirror that produced the bad experience, and kept recalling the one good
experience I had in trying to astrally project myself, (mentioned in "Caught
up in euphoria"). I returned to my initial astral projection
exercises, and once again, I awoke in the middle of the night paralyzed,
dripping with unbearable fear. As last time, I felt that the top half of
my body was hovering above my bed, but my spiritual 'feet', so to speak, were
still stuck in my physical body. I couldn't see any beings around me this
time, but I felt the presence of something hideously wicked flowing all over my
body, practically suffocating me. This time I prayed to Jesus and whatever
it was disappeared. My faith was weak and I was disobedient to God in many
ways, but simply knowing the name of Jesus protected me.
During this time in my life I was a Christian,
yet I was still experimenting with astral projection. I didn't have it
settled in my mind that it was entirely bad. After this experience I
decided to QUIT trying to astrally project myself, because I kept getting
horrible results.
READ: Matthew 6:33
(At this time in my life, all I really wanted was to see and know God in a
special way. Now I'm asking Him for His way of giving me
this)
33But seek ye first the kingdom
of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto
you.
Emails I've read - and my
observations
Since I've published my
book, "Aliens in the Bible", I've been getting a few emails every week from
people much like my former, and present self. (I read them all - and
welcome more! jmilor@yahoo.com) Some are from
Christians - and others aren't but are from people invariably going through
difficulties that are swaying them in Christ's direction. After my last
negative experience with astral projection, (read "Taken
with unimaginable fear"), I finally actually prayed in earnest to the
Lord to reveal to me if anything good can come out of my attempts to project my
spirit out of my body. The next day, the Lord used email to answer my
prayers.
I received an email from someone saying she she
had experiences with astral projection, and that it was a tool used by Satan
worshipers. This person said she never had the ability to conduct this
feat and be in control of it herself, (unlike Dr. Robert Monroe's experiences
- author of "Journey's out of the Body"), but rather she said she was
victimized with it on several occasions. She claimed that demons would
come in the night, rip her spiritual form right out of her physical body and
take her places and show her things. On every occasion she was filled with
complete terror, and had no control. I believed this woman, because her
experiences were not only similar to my own; the content of her email clearly
demonstrated to me that she had an inside knowledge of things I'd been studying
for years. (She knew quite a bit more than I do, however, when it came
to the Satanic details).
Initially, I was actually disturbed by the
amount of Satanic knowledge this woman had. I questioned her about what I
called a "disturbingly unbalanced interest", which I felt she might have had in
order to obtain such detailed information about Satanism. (At first I
didn't know she used to be a Satanic cult member. She only
identified herself as someone with information about astral
projection). Fortunately she replied that she became a born again
Christian, and left Satanism behind. Figuring that her email was God's
answer to my prayer, I asked her the simple question I prayed about. She
proceeded to tell me about the various side effects of astral projection, i.e.
premature ageing, for example - which I didn't know about, and she also told me
how Satanists and demons use astral projection to spy on, manipulate, and
ultimately deceive people. Her bottom line was that she couldn't see any
conceivable good thing about it.
Shortly after receiving this email, I received
another email from someone so paranoid that he made me swear never to give his
name before he would let me know about his experiences. He was terrified
that the group of people he used to be involved with would find out he leaked
information about what they do - and kill him in his sleep. (This can
apparently be done astrally, leaving no traces of criminal activity - though I
KNOW Christians don't have anything to fear about this, for Jesus promises us -
[those that belong to Him], that we shall have power over all the power of the
enemy (Luke
10:19)!
I did what I could to sooth this man's fears,
and he proceeded to give me a few details about his experiences. I was
actually surprised that he experienced so little, compared to the paranoia he
was exhibiting. He was under the impression that since he was given the
ability to astrally project, as well as a little telekinesis and mind
manipulation, that somehow his life would be in grave danger were he to let this
information out. He too was a born again Christian - and quite new at
that, for he was living in overwhelming fear. Perhaps those that taught
him these supernatural abilities were insecure about their 'secret', which is
blatantly published in multiple texts in nearly every New Age bookstore across
America. Why would they be so insecure? I don't know. I guess
they don't watch too much TV, either, or read too many paranormal books, to be
familiar with people such as Uri Geller, David Blane, and David
Copperfield. (I'm not saying those 3 individuals are Satanists - I only
mention them in association with telekinesis, and mind control, etc.).
All of my own experiences, in addition to the
two timely emails above have convinced me that astral projection is, in essence,
a form of sorcery - which is condemned in scripture as an abomination (Deuteronomy
18:10-12). It is also highly associated with false doctrines; you
can't find an astral projection book these days that doesn't refute most
everything in the Bible.
So the second email I received was a
confirmation to prayer. In short, astral projection is highly associated
with Satanism, and I'm about 99.9% sure that nothing good can come out of
it. I already had the suspicion that astral projection is the gateway to
supernatural power, (which I delve into the details of how powers are
developed in my first book, "Apparition"), but prior to these two emails, I
still didn't conclude that it was something that people simply shouldn't
do.
When I wrote Apparition in1997, I was toying
with the idea that astral projection might in rare cases be a God given talent,
(if it spontaneously happens to someone), but I'm skeptical of that view
now. In fact, I'm currently going through the process of revising
Apparition into a screenplay, and putting a new unexpected twist in the end
that's based on my new point of view. It's still hard for me to discern
the origin of spontaneous astral projections, because if they
happen, they simply happen, right? How can someone be committing an evil
abomination on accident? After all, astral projection is commonly reported
in fatal accidents, near death experiences, and medical operations. In all
of these cases, those experiencing the sensation never purposely induce
it. In all cases in scripture, sorcery is always defined as something that
the sorcerer's 'do' in order to invoke their powers, which is markedly different
than a spontaneous incident. Furthermore, according to Dr. Robert Monroe,
he never purposely induced his astral projections either. However, the
following facts continue to disturb me, even in cases of spontaneous
projections:
1. Robert Monroe's later books are littered with
eastern mysticism, just like other modern astral projection
books.
2. The reason for much of the deception that astral
projectors are experiencing, as well as propagating, comes from the fact that
these people are making up their own belief systems based upon their astral
excursions, (learning the reality of the spiritual realm without a Christian
foundation), and often those out of body trips involve beings they encounter
- which tell them many many things... Since we are living in a
cursed world, and are surrounded by demonic entities, (Ephesians
6:12), we must rely on the tests found in scripture in order to determine
whether the information these beings are giving out it accurate.
Invariably, they drastically twist the definition of who God is, Jesus Christ is
not professed as Lord, (Galatians
1:8-9), Jesus is construed as a liar because according to these false
doctrines, He is not the ONLY "Way, the Truth, and the Life", nor is He the ONLY
"way to the Father", as He said He was, (John
14:6), and the list goes on. Clearly there are numerous flaws
with the modern doctrines deriving from astral projection. This type of
false doctrine is not limited to frequent astral projectors such as Dr. Robert
Monroe, either. I've heard and read several testimonies and doctrines,
such as "Saved by the Light", which are prime examples of the same kinds of
non-Biblical false teachings the Bible warns us about. These
testimonies are frequently given by people that have had only ONE experience
with astral projection. This isn't always the case, but it is typical -
especially if the person that experiences the out of body experience is not a
Christian.
3. The two emails I received directly after I prayed to God
when asking for information about astral projection gave me two explicit
examples of people that viewed it as strictly Satanic. I find this
as no coincidence. Jesus declared that if we ask, we shall receive, (John
16:24), and this is repeated again in (James
1:5-6) concerning wisdom specifically. I asked God for wisdom
concerning astral projection, and immediately following I received these two
emails. God doesn't leave His children in the dark concerning matters for
which they are diligently seeking out the answers from Him. I prayed, and
God answered.
4. Who knows what kind of dangers one might be subjected to
in the astral realm? Aside from deceiving spirits, consider the
possibility of demonic possession, where a demonic entity might be able to
assume complete control over one's physical body and claim one's identity!
The astrally projected person, mean while, is either stuck in limbo, or dragged
down to hell, or who knows what! Who would ever know? (Believe it
or not, I saw this exact scenario played out in an episode of "Jackie", a
cartoon featuring Jackie Chan as the main character, which my children watch on
Saturday mornings). On the surface it all sounds stupid, but all
Christians should realize that demonic possession is a reality. Jesus
confronted it in every gospel. Maybe that's why astral projectors are
writing so many books purporting eastern mystical thought; they aren't who they
used to be! What if one can't get back to his or her physical body
because he or she gets lost, or is captured and taken away by a demonic
entity? Would such a person fall into a coma, or just die? Neither
scenario is comforting. Perhaps there are spiritual 'diseases', or
other complex dangers that would threaten to corrupt the fundamental definition
of who we are in a spiritual sense? How many people die in their sleep
every year with no detectable cause? It happens. This list could go
on and on.
5. Finally, scripture plainly states that in the last days, there
will be a drastic increase in Satanic power throughout the world. Since
astral projection is a common gateway into Satanic power, it is probably one of
the a key elements that the Bible is referring to. The New Age movement is
greatly popularizing astral projection as a wonderful hobby, frequently
downplays the dangers which are commonly referred to as 'non existent', and
strongly encourages astral projection as a path to spiritual
enlightenment. Robert Monroe was at least honest enough in "Journey's Out
of the Body", (which was published back in 1973 prior to astral projection
gaining public popularity), to describe two incidents in which he was
attacked by what he described as 'demon dogs', but these kinds of incidents are
completely absent in today's astral projection books. These facts should
should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with Bible prophecy.
In conclusion, trying to specifically induce
astral projection is clearly a form of sorcery, and condoned as a wicked
act. Furthermore, there are explicit dangers involved in those very rare
cases when astral projection happens to people unintentionally. Please
don't think that it's something to fear if it happens to you! Simply be
aware of the fact that there are enough dangers of deception, as well as
spiritual dangers that should by far discourage experimentation such as I used
to conduct myself. By the mercy of God I'm still me! (sometimes I
wonder though... Just kidding!) Also, if in the highly unlikely
event YOU, the READER, actually ARE someone like Dr. Robert Monroe, and have
spontaneous astral projections from time to time, you should now be aware of the
fact that there may be severe consequences for not addressing this issue through
prayer, faith in Jesus Christ, and in consultation with the Word of God, and
fellowship with bothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. Lord help you with
your unique issue! (If I just pinpointed you, please email me, jmilor@yahoo.com, and we'll pray about
it. I've counseled others on stranger things.)
READ: Matthew 24:24 (In the End
Times, there will be a marked increase in Satanic power and
activity)
24For there shall arise false
Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch
that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very
elect.
READ: 2 Thessalonians
2:8-12
8And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume
with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his
coming: 9Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with
all power and signs and lying wonders, 10And with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of
the truth, that they might be saved. 11And for this cause God shall
send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12That
they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in
unrighteousness.
Big Foot
Dad and Uncle Paul at Chikita
Lake
|
As a family tradition, my dad has
frequently told the story on nearly every camping trip I go on with him
about something that happened with him and my Uncle one time while fishing
in the Sierra Nevada's at a lake called Chikita Lake. (It should
actually be called 'Mesquita Lake' because of the billions of
mosquitoes). I've been to this lake on numerous occasions.
Every afternoon at around 3:30 to 5:00
pm, this lake becomes as placid as a solid sheet of glass, and an eerie
silence permeates the environment. I don't know why it gets like
this. Even the birds know that it's time to shut up. It was
during this time of day that years ago, my dad and Uncle were fishing from
their canoe out in the middle of the lake. Quite unexpectedly, they
heard a thundering crash rumbling through the forest, and an ear
shattering screech that my dad says was nothing like he's ever heard
before, or since. He describes it as a combination between a wild,
bellowing bull and the shriek of a mountain lion. He said it raised
the hair on the back of his neck, and he and Paul sat silently, wide eyed,
staring at each other. Whatever it was that made the racquet became
instantly silent, leaving the two in their boat to ponder what to make of
it.
"Did you hear that?"
"What?" my Uncle returns with a hideously
absurd reply. (My dad always howls in laughter when
recalling Paul's response).
"Should we go back to camp and see
what that was?"
"Hell no."
They eventually did go back to camp,
built up a hefty bonfire, and kept a watchful eye throughout the
night. Whatever it was never returned. This story is a long
standing tradition in our family, and vividly sticks in my memories from
my earliest youth. |
 |
READ: Genesis 6: 4-12 (Were the
angels doing unnatural things with beasts, as well as with humanity? Are
they still doing these things?)
4There were giants
in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God
(angels) came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the
same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. 5And GOD saw
that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6And it
repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his
heart. 7And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created
from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing,
and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
8But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. 9These are
the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his
generations, (the Hebrew text here refers to being without physical defects,
meaning genetic purity), and Noah walked with God. 10And Noah begat
three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 11The earth also was
corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12And God
looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had
corrupted his way upon the earth.
Monte's monstrous camping trip
A good friend of mine from my High School days
once recounted to me his encounter with a Big Foot. He and some friends of
his had a prolonged ordeal with this creature while on a camping trip in the
Arkansas Ozark Mountains. If he was telling the truth, (which he
continuously assured me he wasn't making this stuff up), his experience goes
far in describing the intelligence that Big Foot creatures must have.
His story began with him and a few hunting
friends of his being dropped off in the Ozark Mountains for a weekend camping
trip. They setup camp, and quickly set off to hunt for deer. It
wasn't long before one of them spotted a large buck and shot it. The brush
was thick in the area and the buck was several hundred yards away, so the guy
that shot the buck said he'd keep an eye on the exact location of the buck
through his rifle's telescope and guide the rest of them to find it.
Monty and his small band of teenage friends
were trudging through the brush, listening to the rifleman periodically yelling
to them, "Go to your left - another 50 yards", etc. The rifleman then
strangely changed his directions into a collection of shouts, warnings, and
other bizarre antics.
"Where's the buck?" they yelled out.
All they got back was "Get the hell out of
there! Ah! Run, run! Oh my gosh, run! Get the @$^%@ out
of there!"
The looked at each other, puzzled, still
wondering where the buck was. They never found it. In response to
all the warning shouts, they silenced themselves for a moment to see if they
could hear anything. They heard absolutely nothing but their friend's
yelling, nor could they see anything out of the ordinary. Now they were
curious to find out what all the commotion was about. There didn't seem to
be any danger in the immediate vicinity. When they got back, they
questioned their friend about what he was yelling about. He was pale and
shaking, and thus began their weekend of terror.
"Well where's the buck? What's wrong with
you?"
"You didn't see it? How could you not
have seen it! It was huge! It must have been 10 feet tall! It
slung that 12 point buck over it's shoulder with one arm, as if it were a
lightweight jacket! It was huge! It was only a few feet away from
you guys! You had to see it!" (By the way, a 12 point buck could
weigh as much as several hundred pounds).
They turned and looked at each other with
cracked smiles, expecting for the joke to end any second. It didn't.
"I'm not %@#$! kidding!" he yelled at them at the top of his voice. "You
think I'm ^^$* kidding? Look into my eyes! Do I sound like I'm
kidding? Wipe that @$$# smile off your $@$@^ faces, because this aint no
joke!" They finally realized their friend was serious, but didn't know
what to make of it.
They started walking back to camp, mumbling to
themselves about the bizarre incident. They then had the peculiar
sensation that they were being followed and one of them got the bright idea to
have them all stop walking and become immediately silent on the count of
three. Of course anyone could guess what happened next. They heard
about two steps more only 20 feet away from them. The looked in the area
where they heard the steps, but the brush was too thick to make anything
out. "I know you heard that," the kid that shot the buck
whispered.
Petrified, they broke out in a blind panic,
running for camp, every member for himself. When they reached camp, they
started going over their options. "Isn't there any way we could get out of
here sooner?" They couldn't leave. They were dropped off, and
weren't going to be picked up until the weekend was over. They finally
decided on a courageous plan. They figured that they had guns, and
whatever it was that was wandering around in the woods didn't have guns.
Therefore they were going to hunt this thing down, because they didn't want to
stay awake all night being scared out of their wits. They tied their food
up in a net, hoisted it up into a tree, and off they went. (This is a
common tactic for preserving food from forest pilferers, such as bares, and in
this case, Big Foot!)
They split into two groups of two, and went
separate directions. Both groups saw the large, hairy, blackish brown
creature on several occasions for brief glimpses, but the creature was too agile
to shoot at. It appeared to be toying with them. As soon as they
would see it, it would disappear back into the brush. They didn't want to
be shooting irresponsibly, blindly firing rounds off into dense brush, (for
reasons any respectable hunter would appreciate), and that was probably the
only way they would've been able to shoot it. After several hours of
futility, they regrouped and returned to camp.
On their way back to camp, they were astonished
to find a trail of shredded tin cans. The remnants of a few cans of
Campbell's soup and chilly beans were laying on the ground, torn in half.
Examining the cans revealed that they were not opened with a can opener.
They were actually ripped apart as if they were empty aluminum cans. The
tree where their food was hoisted up had various claw marks on it, and the net
holding their food had a hole gashed in it. They were sick with fear, and
felt completely hopeless.
During the night, they kept the campfire
ablaze, and pulled armed shifts to keep an eye out for the creature.
During one of the shifts, one of them had to relieve himself, (number 2, that
undesirable duty while in the woods). While doing his business, he had
to lean his rifle against a tree. During this most vulnerable situation,
the Big Foot creature strolled right out in front of him and stared him in the
eyes. Monty's friend was filled with so much terror he couldn't even
scream. He lost his voice. The creature then grabbed his
rifle! The squeamish kid was paralyzed with fear, not knowing what to
expect. The creature then snapped the rifle in half like a twig, and
disgustedly dropped the two broken pieces on the ground in front of the
squatting, helpless, whimpering kid. Lucky for him he was clear and ready
to go, with his pants positioned around his ankles. The creature was
polite enough to save him the embarrassment he would've experienced with his
friends, had he returned to camp with soiled jeans.
Satisfied that it had made its point clear, the
creature disappeared into the forest as quickly and quietly as it had
appeared. They didn't see or hear the creature again for the remainder of
the camping trip. After the young lad proceeded to scamper back to camp,
his voice eventually returned to him, and he screamed wildly, crying like a
baby. They all woke up, and stayed awake for the rest of the entire
camping trip. They didn't bother to hunt, or do anything but keep the fire
burning.
This story just seems too fantastic to be true,
and I repeatedly appealed to Monty to level with me, but Monty insisted that
this story actually happened. I never knew him to spin wild tales to me
before, so I believe him on this one. I don't have a problem believing in
the existence of Big Foot, and if there is such a creature out there, it would
have to be smart to so effectively evade humanity for so long. Perhaps
this particular Big Foot's behavior was more brazen than usually depicted of
these creatures, because Monty and his friends were only young teenagers.
One thing I do know for certain, being familiar with the Big Foot
phenomenon. The Ozark Mountains are known by Big Foot enthusiasts as being
a hotbed of Big Foot sightings.
READ: Genesis 1:26-28
(Could Big Foot simply be another of God's creations?)
24And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living
creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth
after his kind: and it was so. 25And God made the beast of the
earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that
creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was
good.
A friend of my babysitter's
My mother told me of a story about someone she
knew of, (a friend of my babysitter's), that was kidnapped by a family of
Big Foots! The man that this happened to wouldn't willingly tell his
story, assuming my mother would think he was mad. After being coaxed
repeatedly by my mother, he finally recounted his tale.
As his story goes, he awoke one night while on
a camping trip and found himself in the incredible predicament of being carried
away in his sleeping bag! He was toted several miles through the forest
during the middle of the night, and gently set down before a family of two adult
Big Foots, and two adolescent Big Foots. The adults were monstrous in
size, each standing taller than 10 feet high. The adolescent Big Foots
were about the size of normal humans.
The creatures analyzed the man
curiously. While they studied him, my babysitter's friend devised a plan
of escape. He pulled out a can of chewing tobacco he had in his back
pocket, pinched out a chunk, popped it into his mouth, and proceeded to
chew. He then handed the tobacco to one of the Big Foots. It
mimicked his behavior, and passed the tobacco onto another Big Foot.
Unfortunately for the Big Foots, they thought the chewing tobacco was food, so
they swallowed it. This is what my babysitter's friend was hoping
for. It wasn't long before these creatures were horribly ill with stomach
aches. While they were vomiting, he escaped. He didn't bother to
take his sleeping bag with him, nor did he return to pick up his camp. He
searched frantically for his truck. When he found it, he left in the
middle of the night, leaving all of his camping supplies behind.
READ: Romans 16:15 (Perhaps more
intelligent creatures could benefit from the gospel as
well?)
15And he said unto them, Go ye
into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
A minor experience of my own
When I used to live in Arkansas, I would
sometimes travel into the woods a few miles away from my home onto my neighbor's
property. There were some bluffs, and a fairly large river called "Lee
Creek", that was a beautiful place to go. On one occasion while next to
Lee Creek, I heard a very strange series of roars in the river's valley.
From where I was at, I couldn't see down into the forest, but was able to see
tree tops violently jerking around. It was as if some very large creature
were throwing a tantrum, storming through the valley floor, hitting trees as it
went.
I wouldn't have mentioned this minor episode,
were it not for the fact that this wasn't a completely isolated incident.
From where I lived, I sometimes heard this same highly peculiar bellowing at
night time from my house. It was a high pitched roar coming from the Lee
Creek riverbed. I know wild bulls can make some fairly strange noises, and
I suppose there could've been a wild bull that lived down there, but it sure
didn't sound like any bull I've ever heard.
READ: Genesis 23:2
2And Sarah died in
Kirjatharba; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn
for Sarah, and to weep for her.
Demons / Devils
A demon knocked on the bedroom
door
When I was about 15 years old, living in
Fresno, California at the time, I decided to visit my friend Sheena. She
lived in the house facing my house, on the other side of the street. Her
friend Gretchen had just spent the night, so when I showed up, they were still
laying in sleeping bags in Sheena's bedroom, obviously recovering from
staying up most of the night.
We talked for a while, and the conversation
eventually turned to paranormal topics. Gretchen had a grisly story about
someone in her family that went through some turbulent times with demon
possession. One one occasion her family member actually saw the demon with
her physical eyes, storming across her living room. Gretchen was fairly
animated in telling her stories, and Sheena and I were slightly spooked.
There was daylight outside, however, which was comforting.
Suddenly there were several monstrous thuds
pounding against Sheena's bedroom door, and we all about jumped out of our
skin. The timing couldn't have been more accurate to invoke such a
response. Being the only male, I seized the opportunity to impress the two
girls and quickly jumped up and opened the door. No one was there. I
looked into the kitchen and saw Sheena's step father cooking at the stove, but
he would've had to run to get that far away from the bedroom in time.
Pulling pranks wasn't in his nature, either. I walked into the kitchen and
asked him if he knocked on Sheena's door. He looked at me with an
unconcerned expression, shook his head and answered "No".
I looked around the house, and Sheena's step
father was the only one there, aside from the three of us. We had no idea
who pounded on that door. In light of our conversation, we all had our
suspicions. Needless to say, we decided to change the
subject.
READ: Mark
5:1-20
1And they came over unto the other side of the sea,
into the country of the Gadarenes. 2And when he was come out of the
ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit,
3Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no,
not with chains: 4Because that he had been often bound with fetters
and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters
broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. 5And always, night
and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself
with stones. 6But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped
him, 7And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do
with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou
torment me not. 8For he said unto him, Come
out of the man, thou unclean spirit. 9And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is
Legion: for we are many. 10And he besought him much that he would not
send them away out of the country. 11Now there was there nigh unto
the mountains a great herd of swine feeding. 12And all the devils
besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.
13And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went
out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place
into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea.
14And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in
the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done.
15And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the
devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they
were afraid. 16And they that saw it told them how it befell to him
that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine.
17And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts.
18And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with
the devil prayed him that he might be with him. 19Howbeit Jesus
suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy
friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath
had compassion on thee. 20And he departed, and began to
publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did
marvel.
Nightmares that shook my bed
I've had several nightmares in my life that
scared me pretty bad, but they usually stayed in my dreams. This one
didn't. I was dreaming about demonic beings attacking me, and when I woke
up, my bed was violently shaking! This was during the time when I was
experiencing other demonic things in relation to my friend Jack. Read more
about those things in ( "My
best friend Jack").
Like always, I called on the name of Jesus and
the episode was immediately terminated. When I called on the name of Jesus
to protect myself, it always worked. But when I called on the name of
Jesus to protect others, it didn't always work. I had some growing
up to do, spiritually speaking. To know more about what I'm talking about,
read ( "My
best friend Jack"), and ( "Jesus
in a helicopter").
READ: Matthew 17:14-21, (and also in
Mark 9:17-29)
14And when they were come to the multitude,
there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying,
15Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore
vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.
16And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.
17Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and
perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you?
bring him hither to me. 18And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he
departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.
19Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we
cast him out? 20And Jesus said unto them, Because
of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of
mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and
it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
21Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer
and fasting.
My best friend Jack
I used to have a friend who was going through
some very turbulent times. This person didn't want to be identified, so
I'll just call him Jack. He's still a very good friend of mine. I
make a special point to keep in touch with him.
Jack wasn't originally from the United States,
and he had some incredible tales about the country where he came from.
(Many foreigners do, in fact). I used to laugh when I talked with
him about some of the things he saw, because they would simply come out in
conversations. For example, he mentioned that he hated dogs with red eyes
on one occasion while we were talking about dogs, and I told him that dogs don't
have red eyes. He insisted that there must be a breed of excessively
large, jet-black dogs that have 'glowing' red eyes. I told him I knew of
no living creature, let alone dogs, that had 'glowing' eyes, and very few that
had red eyes. Dogs didn't fit the bill in either case. His patent
response was, "You obviously haven't traveled around that much, have you?
In my country these dogs are seen by people all the time."
I assumed he might have been talking about the
creepy reddish glow from an animal's retina if you shine a flashlight in its
face in the middle of the night, but he knew of this phenomenon and insisted
that these dogs' eyes weren't reflecting any light, but actually
emitted light from the darkness without any external light source shining
on them. He proceeded to tell me that once when he was a child, he ended
up coming home from the store fairly late. It became dark, unfortunately,
and this was a very bad thing considering where he was from. The country
he lived in was dangerous both politically, (civil war), as well as
spiritually, (which you will soon read why).
Suddenly a large 'demon dog' appeared from the
woods and trotted up beside him. He said it was a moonless night, and
there were no lights along the dirt road where he was walking. In fact, it
was so dark, he could barely see enough to keep on the road. The dog, he
insisted, had brightly glowing, red eyes.
Apparently these dogs are so common in his
country, he was lectured by his parents on what to do if he ever encountered
one. He was to never look at the dog, never show any fear, never
run, and pray to God it didn't hurt him! The creature trotted along side
him for about a mile and a half while he walked home, and he diligently did
exactly as he was taught. He exhibited an enormous amount of self control,
remaining squeamishly silent, sweating bullets no doubt, and praying the entire
walk. The creature eventually returned to the jungle and disappeared.
Jack's stories were among my first in what
became a culmination of events that taught me the reality of the demonic
realm. Much of his testimonies, as well as my own experiences in spending
time with Jack worked on my heart, (scaring the crap out of me most of the
time!) Actually, his stories were part of what brought me to a saving
knowledge in Jesus Christ.
Initially, Jack's stories were too freaky to
accept, and I wasn't sure whether to believe him or not. Over time,
however, I learned that Jack not only experienced and saw strange phenomenon; he
was an enigma himself! Simply being around him, I was subjected to things
I could not have believed any other way. For example, I recall talking to
Jack on the phone one time, and Jack immediately paused in his conversation with
me. "Someone's listening to us" he said.
"No, it's just us. I can hear it if
someone picks up the other line."
Jack refused to continue. He insisted we
were being eavesdropped by someone. Just then my roommate scared the
dickens out of me when he suddenly made his presence known in my bedroom by
placing his hand on my shoulder. He snuck into my room and was listening
in on our conversation from behind me, while I was in a chair facing away from
the door. There's no possible way Jack could've known that someone was
hiding behind me in my own bedroom.
After the 'phone' incident, I paid a little
more attention to Jack's stories about spiritual things, and began to hound him
to tell me more. He was reluctant to tell some of his stories, because
they were both bizarre, and personally disturbing for him to recall. For
example, one of his earliest stories was told to him by his mother, and he was
too young to remember the actual event. He said that when he was a baby
and his mother took him to church to be baptized, something quite unexpected
happened when the holy water was sprinkled on him. His mother told him
that he screamed, and red beams of light shot out of his eyes! "What!" I
queried, and Jack continued. He said that his mother told him the priest
said he had a special blessing, and strangely, that the child (Jack) wasn't
'...from here'. His mother didn't have any idea what the priest
meant, and she didn't bother to ask. I guess she didn't want to
know. I don't know what the priest meant either, but the special blessing
part seems a bit unlikely to me. I didn't know what to say to Jack about
this event. What could I say?
Jack also told me that when he was a baby, he
tumbled down an enormous flight of stairs. Nobody could see how he lived
through it. When they reached him, they saw that he didn't have a scratch
on him. He wasn't even upset.
Concerning the 'phone' incident I mentioned
above, Jack elaborated that he had strange powers at times that he couldn't
explain. For example, when he once asked his Grandmother for some money to
go to the store, his Grandmother said she didn't have any money. Suddenly
his eyes were able to actually see through his Grandmother's purse! He saw
some money in it, and yelled at his Grandmother, "Yes you do, you're
lying! I see 5 dollars right there!"
Jack told me that on two occasions, he saw
demon spirits when staying with a dying relative. The wicked creatures
were dancing gleefully around his relative's bed. He was the only person
in the house that could see them. He described them as shadowy figures
with red eyes and mouths.
Jack also spoke of a powerful demon that lived
in the forest not far from his home where he was growing up, and that everyone
in the area knew of the creature. No one ever went into that area at
night. The "Chicken foot lady", as they called it, lived in a small
portion of dense jungle where there were many caves that were later discovered
to be ancient Indian dwellings. This demon would appear to people in the
form of a beautiful woman wearing a white dress, but her feet were like
chicken's feet. She would seduce men with supernatural charm, and if they
gave into to her wishes, they would either become permanently insane, or be
found dead the next day. Jack said his mother said she actually saw this
being one night. His mother went to the bathroom outside of the house,
(it was an outhouse), and on the way back inside her house, the creature
was standing next to the back door, staring at her. She was panic
stricken, but held her bearing, refusing to glance back at the creature.
It was said that this creature wielded its power through its eyes, so if it were
encountered, one must do everything possible to avoid looking into its
eyes. Jack's mother did just that, ignoring the creature, and went right
past it and inside her house. It didn't do anything to her. Jack's Uncle
also encountered this entity. The creature attempted to seduce him
on one occasion, but his Uncle came to his senses just in time when he realized
it wasn't a normal human being. He turned and ran away from the
creature. It lashed out at him as he turned away from it, and cut him on
his cheek.
Regarding the Chicken foot lady in particular,
I remembered from my days of playing Dungeon's & Dragons that in the book
written by Gary Gygaxx, titled "Deities & Demigods", there is an entry for
an evil Aztec god that fits the exact description of this being. In fact,
Gary Gygaxx's physical description, as well as the behavioral characteristics of
this being are exactly the same as the being my wife described. Deities
& Demigods describes a demon that appears to men as a beautiful woman, but
has chicken's feet. It sustains an irresistible charm if eye contact is
made, and either drives men insane, or kills them. Considering the fact
that Gary Gygaxx obtained the legend of this creature from his studies of many
ancient religions, legends, and cultures, I have to come to the conclusion that
this particular demon must be widely known all throughout the country where Jack
comes from. (Incidentally, demons dogs are also found in Deities &
Demigods. They also spotted, and attacked a Dr. Robert Monroe during one
of his astral projections. Read more about this in "Emails
I've read - and my observations").
While the Chicken foot lady appears to men,
another demon Jack told me about is called "La Duende". Jack never heard
of the Irish legend of the leprechaun, but he described one to me when detailing
the description and characteristics of La Duende. He said this demon would
appear to women as a small, greenish colored man only a few inches in
height. It was mischievous and ill tempered, loved to pull malicious
pranks, and was relentless in it's belittling torments. Jack said it would
invariably demand that its victims marry it, and if they refused, it would use
its supernatural powers to do horrible things in retaliation. According to
the people in Jack's neighborhood, not too far from Jack's house lived a woman
who was driven completely insane by one of these La Duende creatures.
These stories were interesting, and I always
prodded Jack to tell me more of them, until I started experiencing them
myself! While talking on the phone one evening with Jack, I was discussing
the Carlos Castaneda book I was reading at the time, and Jack immediately
flipped out. He said there was a black, shadowy figure flying all
throughout his house. He dropped his phone, and I heard him scream a few
times. Furniture was being abruptly 'relocated' if I was judging the
background sounds correctly, then the line went dead. This black shadowy
thing - from this moment on - became a tormenting spirit of both Jack, and
myself! Jack began to see it in his house, but only when he talked to
me. Furthermore, when Jack came to visit me at my house, he would see it
in my house too! Jack would completely flip out. I never saw this
thing myself, whatever it was, but Jack certainly did. It got so bad on
one occasion that both Jack and I were forced out of my house. Jack lost
consciousness out of fear, and I had to drag him outside. When he came to,
I asked him if the thing was outside. He immediately yelped and ran out to
the sidewalk. I don't know why, but the shadowy thing stayed near the
house, as if it were bound by some unseen limitation. I asked Jack where
it was, and he pointed. I jumped at it, but Jack said it was dodging
me. I must have looked like a complete idiot, flailing about on my front
lawn, trying to hit something I couldn't see. I felt a bit stupid, but I
knew Jack's fear was genuine, so I was doing whatever I could to help. The
shadow then went back into my house, and Jack and I couldn't go inside together
without Jack being chased around, so we went for a night time walk.
The ordeal in my house was awful. Since
my earliest childhood, when I first learned of the existence of demons, I heard
a preacher say the word "Rebuke!" in a sermon once while attending church with
my Great Grandmother. I had the idea that the word "Rebuke" had some
powerful invocation, but it was a struggle for me to remember that word of
esteemed vocabulary. I'd always ask my older brother, "What's that word
again, you know, the one you say if you ever see a demon?" I really wanted
to know, because I think I was keyed in on something that happed to me when I
was about 4 or 5 years old. (Read more in "That
terrifying Halloween night".)
"Rebuke. You say 'I rebuke you in the
name of Jesus'" my brother instructed me. So from about 5 or 6 years old
and onward, I recited the phrase "I rebuke you in the name of Jesus" whenever I
was afraid of the dark, or rather - something I felt was in it.
This small phrase was put to the test on that night the shadowy creature was
terrorizing Jack. I kept yelling "I rebuke you in the name of Jesus!", but
the wicked thing just ignored me.
After the initial attack, Jack stopped coming
to my house after dark. Things were just getting too hectic. He'd
call me instead, but then stuff started happening on the phone line. I had
my doubts about what Jack was seeing up until this point, but my doubts were
soon put to rest. The phone connection would become full of static, we'd
hear a series of clicking noises, then the line would go dead. This ONLY
happened when I was talking with Jack. While I never saw the shadowy thing
in all of Jack's hysteria, I did experience the physical reality of my phone
line exhibiting exceptionally peculiar behavior. On one occasion when I
hit the redial button to call Jack back after being hung up, the phone displayed
rows of "666". Six's filled the liquid crystal display, and the phone
continued to beep the number 6 after the display was full. Chills ran up
my spine, and I could feel a hideous presence all around me. I immediately
hung up the phone, and tried to repeat the malfunction. I dialed a bunch
of 3's, more than could be displayed in the display field, hung up, then
picked it back up and hit redial. The phone redialed the 3's correctly,
and once the display was full, it stopped beeping. On this instance, I
actually verified that my phone performed a double malfunction; it redialed the
wrong number, then kept beeping after the liquid crystal display was full.
That phone still works to this day, and has never performed the same malfunction
before, or since.
The demonic stuff was getting old with
Jack. Something definitely didn't want Jack to associate with me.
This culminated on one night when Jack was visiting me, and my friend Rami
Bridges was there too. Rami was a good friend of mine - and still
is. He had recently moved in as my new room mate. Rami and I had
barely become born again Christians just a few weeks prior, so I figured that
with the two of us there, the shadowy thing might not show up. We were
wrong. That thing showed up in full force, and chased Jack around the
house again. The scene was maddening! When it first appeared in the
living room, Jack screamed and leaped on top of Rami, crawled over the the
top of him and dove behind the couch. I can still remember the look on
Rami's face!
This time, while I was screaming "I rebuke you
in the name of Jesus Christ!", my friend Rami ran into his bedroom and grabbed
his Bible. He ran back into the living room and joined me shouting "WE
rebuke you in the name of Jesus Christ!" We were shaking that Bible around
in the air as if it were a magic wand, and yelling at the tops of our
lungs. The thing ignored us, and tormented Jack until he passed out.
Rami was freaked out! (This was his introduction to Jack). We
both dragged Jack outside, and I apologized to Rami that I didn't think such an
episode would come about with both of us Christians being there. Rami and
I talked for a while, with Jack laying unconscious on my lawn. (I
wonder what my neighbors thought of us? Those were the days...)
"I always said you attract weird stuff like a
magnet. Looks like you hit the jackpot this time", Rami glared at me.
"Why didn't it leave? Aren't demons
supposed to be scared of the name of Jesus Christ?" I questioned
Rami. He shrugged his shoulders, puzzled. I was stumped as
well. "Maybe we don't have enough faith?" I paused. "I believe in
Jesus!" I protested to myself, then looked at my house, seeing how futile my
protest was. Someone, or something in there certainly didn't think I had
any faith at all, because it was calling my bluff, and apparently getting away
with it!
"That does it, Rami. We should both get
baptized. That must be it. It's the only thing I can think of
that we haven't done yet. We should've gotten baptized already
anyway. Do you want to get baptized with me?"
"Yea! Let's do it. Let's get
baptized" Rami resolved with me.
I took Jack home that night, and when I got
back, Rami was shaking with fear. He said all during the time I was taking
Jack home, he was hearing noises all over the house.
The next Sunday, just as we said we would, Rami
and I both went to church at the Church of Christ on Palm avenue in
Fresno. About 90% of the members were senior citizens. That church
is still there, but it's different now; it's now called the Potter's
wheel. We attended one of the most boring sermons I've ever had to
bear. I had a hard time staying awake. Right after the service, I
started asking around for someone to see about getting baptized, and ended up
making an appointment with a deacon.
I think the deacon thought I was nuts.
"There's a demon in my house, and I want to get baptized. I was rebuking
it in the name of Jesus, and it ignored me" I told the deacon. "I think
getting baptized will help me. It will show that thing that I'm serious
about God now."
The deacon didn't believe my story,
(but many other churches would have). He pointed out various
psychological conditions that my friend Jack might have had, i.e.,
schizophrenia, etc. I didn't deny the possibility that Jack might have had
problems, but then I asked him how my phone could've malfunctioned, and about
numerous other details. He was highly skeptical. He explained that
he had a degree in demonology, and there was a clear, logical explanation for
the things that were were happening between me and Jack. "Yea, I
know. There's a demon in my house! That's your clear, logical
explanation!" I retorted. He held his ground, however, fully
convinced that there was no demonic activity in my house. I have no idea
why not. What kind of degree in demonology makes someone a skeptic of the
existence of demons? In summation, he insisted that my motives must be
pure for desiring a baptism. I told him that I didn't care if he believed
me or not. I insisted that my motives were pure, and I was planning
on getting baptized anyway. Demons or no demons, I had to have more
of God in my life, because what that demon was getting away with was direct
proof that something was severely wrong with me. Quite frankly, I was
scared to death!
And so it was, during my early friendship with
Jack, that the Lord refined me through various spiritual trials. In the
heavenlies, I was enrolled in the University of the Kingdom of God, for a crash
course in spiritual warfare. Concerning the vision I had a few weeks prior
to this, (read "Jesus
in a helicopter"), God was making some huge changes in me. I was a
completely different person than I was before I had the vision. I changed
from a die hard liberal, party mongering, pornography watching, filthy mouthed
drunk, into priest by comparison - in just one night! I don't want to
sound like I'm Mr. 'Purity'; I still have issues I deal with. I don't
claim to be better than anyone else, either. It's just that most of the
big, easy to identify sins in my life were completely stripped away from
me. I furthermore take no credit for this change. God did
everything. All I did was show up and say, "Okay God, it's your way
now. What's next?"
After getting baptized the following Sunday, I
immediately sensed that something in me had been restored. Whatever
protection and/or authority God had removed from me in the past, He gave it back
to me now - and more of it. I invited Jack over to my house again,
and wondered about what was going to happen. I actually looked forward to
a confrontation, just to see and experience the outcome. I also knew that
no demon on this planet stood a chance against me!
When Jack came over, we were chatting in the
kitchen when Jack jumped with a startled expression. He pointed out my
back window and said, "I just saw some guy go up into your studio
apartment."
"What? Nobody would go up there.
That door's locked, and the room is vacant."
Jack insisted that he just saw someone walking
up the stairs to go into the studio apartment behind my house. I grabbed
the keys for the studio apartment, then went outside and proceeded up the
stairs. Nobody was waiting on the porch of the studio apartment, which was
odd. I checked the door, and sure enough, it was locked. Whatever
Jack saw, it wasn't normal.
I opened the door of the studio apartment and
walked inside. It was empty, just as I thought it would be. I
returned to the house and told Jack that it was empty. He still insisted
that he saw someone going up the steps, so I asked him to go into the studio
apartment with me and see for himself that nobody was there. He didn't
want to go. "Jack, things are different now" I explained. "Trust me,
whatever is in there won't hurt you, if there is anything in there. God
won't allow it."
Jack and I walked into the studio apartment,
and Jack stiffened with fear when his eyes fixed at the counter space next to
the stove. "He's right there. You don't see that guy sitting right
there?"
"No" I answered. Now I was curious about
this new visitor. I wanted to know who it was, what in the world it was
doing, and what it wanted. Letting my curiosity get the best of me, I
proceeded to ask the invisible entity a host of questions, but while I was
talking to it, my interpreter, Jack, backed up to the door and jutted out.
I didn't think I'd be able to hear any reply, but I thought maybe Jack
could. But Jack abandoned me! I stepped out onto the porch of the
studio apartment, and saw that Jack had already ran back into the house.
"Why did you leave me? Don't you want to
know who or what that thing is out there? What did he look like?"
Jack was afraid and unresponsive. "I'm
not going to talk to that thing. The way he was looking at me was
sickening. You just don't understand what it's like."
Just then, while Jack was still speaking, he
suddenly stopped. His eyes were fixed on the back window. "He's
walking back down the stairs now. Wait... Now he's sitting. He's
sitting on the bottom steps, just right there. He's staring at me
now." Jack was fidgeting with unbearable nervousness.
"What does he look like, anyway?"
"Are you sure you don't see him sitting right
there?"
"I said no. He's obviously not ...
normal. Tell me what he looks like. What is he doing?"
Jack stepped backward a few paces, shaking his
head to say no. He was scared.
"What?"
"He's staring at me and wants me to go
outside. He just pointed at me, and he's motioning me to go out there."
"Well what does he look like?" I kept prodding,
dying with curiosity.
Jack proceeded to give the description of
someone that could've been a greaser from the 1950's. He was a white male
about 20 years old, 5' 10" in height, and had black, shiny hair. He wore
jeans, and a white T-shirt. Jack said he was chewing on a match
stick.
Now my curiosity was burning. "Well let's
go see what he wants. Don't you want to know?"
"No!"
Suddenly I felt the Lord reveal something to
me. That thing was the evil, shadowy figure, and it was only
outside because God wouldn't let it come into my house anymore. I was
totally on fire! That thing couldn't handle even being around me
anymore! It wasn't giving up just yet, though. It was now wearing a
costume so to speak, as a tactic to appeal to my curiosity. I
couldn't believe I actually fell for it, and was trying to convince Jack to go
and talk to it. A question suddenly popped into my mind, which I felt was
from God.
"Did you feel ... an evil presence? Did
it give you the impression that it was wicked?"
"Yes!" Jack answered. I don't know why,
but I felt that along with Jack's ability to see things, he was also able to
tell whether the spirits were good or bad.
"Okay, okay, there's no need to know anything
about it. In fact, I don't want you to talk to it. I already
know what it is, anyway. That's the evil shadowy thing, and it's looking
like that right now just to trick me into getting you to talk to
it. I'll be the one to talk to it, and I know exactly what I'm
going to say!"
I marched outside and stared at something I
couldn't see. "Look, I don't know who, or what you are, and I don't really
care at this point. You obviously can't come into my house anymore - but
it doesn't end there." I pointed my finger at the empty space on the
bottom of the steps, feeling an eerie sensation that something was there.
"You are no longer allowed on my property" I raised my voice. "You have to
leave, and in the name of Jesus Christ, I demand that you get out, NOW!" I
shouted, pointing my finger toward my driveway.
When I came back into the house, I asked Jack
what he saw. He said that as soon as I was done speaking, it stood up and
walked away - proceeding down the driveway where I pointed. We never saw
it, or the shadowy figure ever again. Praise be to the Glory of God!
I was really fired up for God now. I went
on and on about the victory God gave us that day, a victory that only Jack,
(and Rami), could relate to and truly appreciate. The demons were
GONE, and the STILL ARE! (At least from my house. Little did I
know, there was more to come...)
I would frequently talk with Jack about the
Lord. He was a very bitter young man, often talking about how much he
hated life and yearned to die. He was one of the coolest guys I knew, but
struggled with an enormous amount of depression. I have to say that he was
my mission field, for the Lord put something in me that yearned for Jack to be
saved. I simply couldn't give up on him!
Not too long after the day I cast the demon
away from my home, I was talking on the phone with Jack one night. When I
started to talk to him about Jesus, the phone began to make clicking noises,
then it actually went dead. I wasn't scared anymore. I was
mad! The shadowy figure was gone from my house, but either it, or
something else was being awfully persistent with the phone lines. More
than ever, that thing didn't want me to talk with Jack, especially about
Jesus. I was persistent right back! I was determined that if it was
going to mess with either me or Jack, I was going to make it pay!
(Jesus was behind me of course. I suppose one could liken the situation
to a puny pipsqueak kid shouting might words at his enemies, but only because
his 300 pound muscle bound brother was standing right behind him. I had my
muscle bound brother Jesus standing right behind me, and I knew it!) I
immediately called Jack again. If that thing disconnected the line, I'd
call Jack right back up as many times as it took, and start shouting through the
phone line, "In the name of Jesus, I command you to stop disconnecting this
line!"
One night Jack called to tell me that he was
mugged while walking on the canal bank behind his house. He was beaten
horribly, having huge cuts all over his face. He told me that he was so
messed up that I probably wouldn't even recognize him. He was lucky enough
to be rescued by someone that happened to be driving near by and decided to stop
and help him. While he was recalling the event, I felt truly filled with
the power of God, and asked him, as if God were asking the question directly
through me, "Jack, having been through everything you've been through, do you
still love God?"
Jack paused momentarily, and meekly answered,
"Yes. Yes I do. I don't blame God for anything bad in my life.
I'm responsible for most of the bad stuff that's happened to me through the
years."
Many things that happened to Jack in his life
had nothing to do with anything he had done, but the fact that he wasn't bitter
toward God sparked something in my soul. At that moment, I felt an
overwhelming sensation of love for my friend pour through me. "Jack,
because of your faith... because you haven't turned away from God during this
troubled time, I just believe God is going to heal you." At the time, I
think I felt I was speaking more metaphorically than anything. But as soon
as I was done speaking, something amazing began to happen to Jack.
"You know, I love talking to you John.
You really make me feel better. You're like the coolest dude I know.
I feel good. In fact", Jack paused. There was a prolonged
silence. "I'm not even hurting physically anymore. The pain
in my face is ... Ahhh!" Jack screamed, then dropped his phone. I could
hear various yelps, and couldn't tell what was going on. Dread surged
through my mind, and I sorely hoped the dark demon wasn't tormenting Jack again,
just as he was beginning to feel better. Jack finally picked up the phone,
and was yelling in hysterics. "It's gone! I can't believe it!
Everything - everything is gone. I'm healed! My face!"
All of Jack's cuts, bruises, and even his many
stitches, had completely vanished from his face. It were as if he'd never
been attacked. I was astonished, and greatly relieved that Jack was
okay! Needless to say, God surprised me more than I could've
imagined! But it wasn't over yet. I was so excited and overjoyed for
Jack that I was giving praises and shouts of glory to God. Then again,
something severely unexpected happened.
"Why do you always have to talk about Jesus!"
shouted an angry Jack from the other end of the line.
"What do you mean, Jack? You've just been
healed by Jesus. Why don't you want me to talk about him? You were
just laughing with joy a second ago!"
"I am happy" came a timid, confused
reply, but then a quick rebuttal ensued in a deep guttural voice, "Shut
up! I hate you, and I hate Jesus!"
"What do you mean you hate me? Aren't I
your best friend? What's wrong with you Jack?"
"What's happening to me? That's not me
John", said Jack, but then strangely, he interrupted himself! "I hate
you!" growled an angry, deep pitched voice into my ear.
"In the name of Jesus, get out of him!" I
yelled through the phone.
Jacked screamed. "Ah, what's happening to
me!" he cried in hysterics. "Red beams of light just shot out of my eyes
and burned two holes in my carpet!" Jack was crying and confused. A
few seconds passed, and again I heard the ugly, guttural voice. "Shut
up! I hate you!"
"I said in the name of Jesus, GET OUT! I
rebuke you! Be gone in the name of Jesus!" I heard several bizarre
noises; I think Jack was going into seizures. He dropped his phone, and
the line was silent for about five minutes. Finally, he picked up the
phone again.
"Hello? Jack, are you there?"
"Who's this?" asked Jack in a soft, childlike
voice.
"It's me, John, your friend. What
happened to you?"
"John? I don't know anyone named John."
answered Jack. It didn't take long before I realized that he had
amnesia. He couldn't remember anything past being 12 years old!
(I was never bored with Jack around. Just never knew what was going to
happen next.) I asked him if he saw two holes in his carpet, just to
see what he'd answer. He said he did see two holes in his carpet, then
wondered how in the world I knew about them, and wanted to know how they got
there.
Jack eventually regained his memory. As
it turned out, he suffered from multiple personality disorder once the demon was
cast out of him on that night. He never had this disorder before, but once
the demon was gone, certain things would cause him to switch into another frame
of mind, and he would think he was 12 years old, back in his home country.
I think that somehow multiple personality disorder might be linked to demon
possession. Perhaps when a demon takes residence in someone's
consciousness for an extended period of time, the consciousness becomes
segmented, so that when the demon leaves, multiple personality disorder may
result. One thing I know for sure - multiple personality disorder can't
make phones malfunction, and can't be blamed on being able to tell if someone is
eavesdropping in on a phone conversation. Multiple personality wouldn't
have an avid hatred for Jesus, either. Something definitely supernatural
had affected Jack for many years of his life, and after it was cast out, he had
a tremendous amount of healing to get through.
I learned that Jack had been kidnapped by a
horrendous psychopathic child molester when he was about 12 years old.
That's why whenever he had an amnesic episode, he'd return to being 12 years
old, and relive parts of that nightmare. Over the times I spent with Jack
during these episodes, I was able to piece together his entire story. I
felt that recounting it was part of his healing - and I always urged him to tell
me what he could remember. It was painful process, but the more he was
able to recall, the less frequent and severe his episodes were.
He remembered being brutally tortured in
unconceivable ways, and his tormentor was planning to kill him, but he managed
to escape. The madman lived in a small shack out in the middle of the
jungle, where he kept his victims. He had tortured and killed other
children as well, and showed Jack the pictures of what he did to them. He
would let Jack go free into the jungle sometimes, but then he would hunt him
down for fun. He always caught Jack, but after about 5 weeks of brutal
torture, Jack managed to evade this awful devil of a man. Jack remembered
that he finally reached a house with a family of 5 teenage boys. The
parents took him in, cleaned him up, fed him, and gave him a place to
sleep. They harbored him for a few days, but unfortunately for Jack, his
misfortune wasn't over yet. A few of the older boys molested Jack one
night, and when Jack told their parents the next day, they accused him of lying
and kicked him out of their house. Again he wandered, but this time he at
least he made it to civilization. A bus eventually picked him up, took him
to a police station, and he was finally reunited with his family. He
recalled that he heard someone in the police station mention that he had been
missing for 5 weeks. When he finally returned home, he went to sleep, and
when he woke up the next day, he couldn't remember that a single thing had ever
happened to him. The entire horrific episode had been buried deep inside
his mind for years, and didn't come out until the day God spoke healing into his
life.
Jack's life was one tragedy after
another. I had the suspicion that he was cursed by one of his relatives,
who was involved in a Satanic cult. Jack was a magnet for misfortune, and
I could write a book about Jack alone, but this segment is fitting. His
whole childhood history was riddled with memories of child molestation, suicide,
rejection, Satanism, and the list goes on, but it's all inconsequential
now. Today, Jack is a born again, spirit filled Christian, full of the
light of Christ! All his sorrows have since been turned into JOY, yes,
that's right, JOY! He accepted Jesus into his heart in early 1998, and
through the miraculous power of Jesus Christ, ALL those generational curses have
been broken! The demons are gone, the wounds are healed, and when Jack
smiles, God laughs at the dumfounded expression on my face!
Jack never has episodes of amnesia anymore, and
his supernatural power is ... altered. He can sense spirits - but
hardly ever sees them anymore. He likes it better that way,
too. He used to see spirits all the time; not just demonic shadowy
figures, but all kinds of strange things. He hated houses with antiques,
because he'd invariably see people standing around them, sitting in them or
leaning against them, etc. He doesn't see them anymore though, and he's
very glad about that fact! (I think he was seeing energy forms rather
than spirits, but that's just a theory of mine). I've always wanted
the ability to see into the spiritual realm like Jack used to, but Jack has told
me time and again that if I had that ability, I wouldn't want it anymore than he
wanted it. He said I simply couldn't understand how awful it is to see
such creepy things all the time. Jack said he saw angels a few times, too,
but the ratio of creepy things compared to Godly things was far in favor of the
creepy things. Perhaps he should've spent more time in church! At
least he does now. All Jack ever really longed for was a sense of
normalcy, (which I came to appreciate, being around him long
enough). Jack now has the normalcy he longed for. In fact, he's
a family man now, married to a wonderful Christian wife, and has three
kids. Also, when I talk with Jack on the phone now - I do so with a clean,
crispy clear connection. Something has definitely been punished for
messing with me and Jack! Praise God!
God Bless you Jack!
READ: Acts
16:16-20
16And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a
certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her
masters much gain by soothsaying: 17The same followed Paul and us,
and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew
unto us the way of salvation. 18And this did she many days. But Paul,
being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of
Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour. 19And
when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and
Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers, 20And
brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly
trouble our city
There's a demon in my
house!
My pastor, Josh Dehmlow, has a story to
contribute to this book. In a sermon he gave once, he said that one time
he received a call from someone about 'spiritual problems'. I just
had to get some specifics, so I asked him for more details, and for permission
to add his story to this book. He delightfully concurred.
The voice on the other end of the phone line
was trembling. "We have something in our house that's ... doing
things. Can you come over and help us?"
"Sure. What's your address?"
Not knowing what to expect, Josh went over to
their house. Soon after entering their house, a picture flew off the
wall. Josh's eyebrows raised. "Was that???" he questioned, while
pointing to the picture, now laying on the ground. Knowing Josh, he
probably giggled.
For anyone familiar with the movie, "The
Exorcist", this movie and others like it have formulated a great misconception
to the general public about how Jesus deals with demons. For starters,
there are many people in the Christian community that cast out demons. I'd
venture to say that most of them aren't Roman Catholic priests, though some
of them are. The reason I mention this is because many people derive
the church's dealings with demonic stuff based on the FICTION movie, "The
Exorcist". A 'serious' Roman Catholic priest is not the minimum
requirement of piety to cast out demons. Anyone with genuine faith
in Jesus Christ, Catholic, or Protestant, can cast out demons, because
Jesus gives ALL of his followers power over ALL the power of the enemy (Luke
10:19). It's true that fasting might be a good idea in some rare
cases, (Matthew
17:14-21), but it's usually not required. In any scenario, the
Christian that has true faith in Jesus should perceive no threat from demonic
stuff. It might be a bit 'weird' to see demonic stuff, and fear might
arise, naturally, but prayer is a guarantee for comfort, (Philippians
4:6-7). I speak this from personal experience in these matters.
Read my story in this book, "My
best friend Jack", for more details about my personal experiences of
this nature.
In the move, "The Exorcist", one is left with
the impression that this particular priest is afraid for his life, as if the
devil holds the keys to life and death. Now why would a priest be scared
to die? Is that not absurd? All of the Apostles in the Bible
confronted demonic forces, casting them out of people left and right, and NONE
of them were afraid for their lives. In fact, the Apostle Paul sums up the
general consensus of what should be every Christian's view of
death: "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain!",
(Philippians 1:21). In other words, death isn't death. We just go to
heaven! What's so bad about that? What's to fear? Furthermore,
it is Jesus who decides when people die, not the devil. For anyone having
doubts about this fact, check out (Revelation
1:17-18). I'm not making this stuff up!
"What do you think?" asked the frightened
woman.
"I'm glad I don't live here!" Josh blurted out,
then laughed. He was kidding of course. (He's not the 'serious'
type, if you haven't guessed. This exorcist gives his sermons in
shorts and a T-shirt, and has been known to dance on chairs while doing an Eddie
Van Halen impersonation on his guitar). These people weren't very amused
with his sense of humor on this particular occasion. He admits that it
gets him into trouble sometimes.
Was Josh afraid for his life? What do you
think? Actually, the experience did nothing but strengthen his faith,
seeing the reality of the spiritual realm displayed before him.
To make a long story short, Josh prayed over
the house, and the demonic stuff ceased immediately, and never came back.
He didn't have a heart attack and die, nor was he ever shoved down a flight of
stairs, for those that are unfortunate enough to be familiar with "The
Exorcist". The fact of the matter is, some angels came into that home
and totally annihilated those demons.
The spiritual realm works much the same as our
society works. The Apostle Paul tells us in (Romans
1:20) that we can understand the heavenly realm simply by observing the way
things work in our own realm. Since spiritual society is similar to human
society, there are spiritual beings around us all the time, and some of them are
real trouble makers. They go from place to place, stirring up problems,
and sometimes they wreak total havoc. Demonic forces can do this, because
this is a cursed world, due to the fact that humanity lost dominion over it when
Adam sinned, (Romans
5:12-15). Jesus took that dominion back for us, however, so all we
have to do is claim it in the name of Jesus Christ. To further explain the
situation, God didn't immediately wipe out all traces of disobedient spirits
from the face of the earth, obviously. That's coming - but not yet.
Currently, earth is in the age of grace, and it is during this age that both
humans, as well as demons, are allowed to express their disobedience toward
God. The age of grace applies both to the non-physical, and physical
realms. The good news about this age is that people that accept Christ
into their lives and decide to be obedient to God receive all the protection
from demons that God provides. They also have the authority to evict the
enemy from both their own lives, and the lives of others. With this in
mind, demonic entities are really not that big of a deal. We just kick
them out in the name of Jesus!
When a criminal is caught, did the process
begin by ignoring the crimes committed? Does a criminal come to justice
when we tell a neighbor or cry to a friend about the crimes instead of
contacting the authorities? No, on both counts. The key word here is
authority. In order for a criminal to get caught, we first need to
contact the authorities to handle the situation. In the spiritual
realm, it works the same way. Demonic forces do many things, and they can
get away with quite a bit simply because nobody tattle-tales on
them. All it takes is a single Christian with genuine faith in Jesus
Christ to put out the angelic 'APB'. Angels aren't in the dark as we are,
either, figuratively, literally, or any other way! Demons simply
can't evade an angelic forensics expert. Furthermore, when demons get
caught, they can't get out on bail, or slip through the cracks because of a
red-tape bureaucratic accident some lawyer exploited. When Christians
pray, demons get BUSTED, and are JUDGED SEVERELY. Recall the demon
possessed man that lived among the tombs in (Luke
8:26-33)? Those demons BEGGED Jesus not to punish them. They
were BUSTED, and ended up going strait to the pit of hell for hurting that man
they possessed for so long.
Using the same analogy of society I illustrated
above, how would I liken the calling of a psychic to remedy a spiritual
problem, such as getting rid of a poltergeist? Remember that key word,
authority? Bypassing Jesus and seeking other 'spiritual' help to
resolve spiritual problems is possible, and some results might be attained out
of the situation, but other problems are cultivated because of this.
Consider the fact that when a criminal wants justice, he goes to worse,
more hardened, more powerful criminals to get what he wants. The Mafia is
a prime example of law, within lawlessness. Calling a psychic to remedy a
spiritual problem is like calling Joey the Black Cat to 'Take care of
it'. In essence, this makes things worse, because it invites other
demonic forces into the picture that are even more wicked and corrupt than the
first ones! That's why spiritual problems must be dealt with in the name
of Jesus, and not in some psychic's impression of a mystical protective light
force, or whatever else they might contrive to comfort someone.
Hollywood is notorious for producing movies
that provide and endless variety of 'cures' to battle against demonic
forces. I keep watching them every now and then, such as the recent "End
of Days" starring Arnold Swartzeneggar. I guess I'm hoping to see some
improvement. I don't know why I bother. Two huge lies are
rampant among Hollywood movies: 1. Humans in their own strength, without Jesus,
are vastly overestimated, and 2. The name of Jesus and the authority He
provides is vastly underestimated. Humans are over estimated in
that some lame hero saves the day, and the name of Jesus isn't even mentioned
once throughout the entire movie. Demonic forces might not be any match
for Jesus, or for any real Christian, but people in their own strength are
powerless against them. I don't care if you're Arnold Swarzenegger, demons
are downright powerful, and there's nothing anybody can do to avoid being
possessed by them other than calling on the name of Jesus. BUT, once Jesus
comes into the picture, the elephant becomes a mouse in less than a
second! Demons flee like dogs with their tails between their legs.
Why is it that Hollywood movies have people
doing practically anything except call out to Jesus in order to remedy
demonic problems? (Well I know why, but that's another issue).
Movies are silly. How is a magic circle going to protect anyone? How
can throwing salt in the corners of your house get rid of demons? How
moronic! Demons just make stupid stuff up, and laugh when people do
it! Has anyone reading this been 'snipe' hunting? It operates on the
same concept. I'm convinced that some people would hop on one foot and
bark like a dog if told to do so. They obviously don't realize that
they're playing Satan's game by playing by his rules. GO TO JESUS
PEOPLE! Any who...
Before leaving this story, I don't want to fail
to mention that when Christians deal with demonic forces, they usually don't do
it solo. Also, it's always highly advisable for them to build up their
spiritual armor according to (Ephesians
6:12). Fasting helps too. My pastor recalls back when he was in
a deliverance ministry, he was slightly taken off guard when a woman possessed
with a demon snarled at him, "I know what you did last Wednesday!"
At the time, he wasn't expecting such things to
happen! While cringing with a slight case of guild, knowing exactly what
the demon was referring to, the elderly lady next to him quickly comforted
him. "That's okay Josh" the lady gingerly spoke, sympathizing with his
predicament. Josh recalled the event with amusement. "All his sins
are covered by the blood of Jesus, so you just shut up demon, and get out of
this young lady right now, in the name of Jesus." She didn't even raise
her voice, and the demons made one last feeble shriek before being cast down
into the pit of hell. Foolish, grouchy, pathetic creatures they are.
READ: Luke
4:33-36
33And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a
spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice,
34Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of
Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of
God. 35And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy
peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the
midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not. 36And they were all
amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! for with
authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out.
Stories from Thailand
During my senior year in High School, I met
another senior named Bill, and we became great friends. He played a mean
guitar, and I play the drums, so we'd have jam sessions on occasion. We
had grand dreams of forming a cool rock band and making tons of
money.
I had just joined the Army fresh out of High
School, but wasn't due to go for about another month. I wanted to go on
one last camping trip before leaving for the Army, and I asked Bill if he'd like
to join me.
"Are you crazy! Spend the night in the
mountains! You can't be serious!" he exclaimed with a shocked
expression. I was somewhat surprised at his bizarre reaction.
"Why not? I go camping all the
time. We can go camping up at Huntington Lake." He didn't like the
idea of it. Bill was an Asian, and came from Thailand. Apparently in
Thailand, the forest is strictly off limits - for reasons anyone from Thailand
would know. He proceeded to tell me about certain ghoulish creatures that
floated above the ground, had scaly skin, and eyes positioned on the sides of
their faces like the eyes of a horse. These creatures have long sharp
claws, and viciously attack people that stay in the forest at night. He
said he knew of several attacks he remembered happening to people he knew in his
childhood. A relative of his was almost killed, barely managing to
escape. When he made it back into town, he was bleeding profusely.
Bill said it was actually possible to fight
these creatures, but the chances were pretty slim for winning. They would
only sustain damage if you were quick enough, and lucky enough to be striking at
them in the exact same instant they were striking at you. (They had to
make themselves temporarily solid in order to hurt you).
Otherwise, they were like phantoms, and offensive strikes would pass right
through them. Also, once they decided to attack, they always attacked in
packs, so the best thing to do if this happened would be to run as fast as
possible. But even that wouldn't help much, because according to Bill,
they were lightning fast. That's why it was best just to stay out of the
forest! He actually warned me that if we saw one when we went camping that
I shouldn't stare at it; instead, I should just ignore it. Staring at them
tends to invoke their anger, but they generally leave people alone if
ignored. One thing they don't like is excessive noise. He mentioned
that we should be quiet when it became dark, and build up the fire. Bill
said that to go into the forest of Thailand in the middle of the night and start
making a lot of racquet would be certain suicide. I had to inform Bill
that the Sierra Nevada mountains were incredibly tame compared to the forests of
Thailand. When we eventually went camping, he insisted that I build two
campfires, and keep them burning high all night. I didn't get much sleep
on that camping trip.
Bill also spoke of another strange kind of
spirit that Thai people were really happy to see! He said it appeared as a
column of fire, and if one were to see it, the thing to do would be to run over
to where it appeared and dig a hole. Invariably there would be money,
jewelry, or something of esteemed value in the hole. The way it works,
explained Bill, is that when someone would get to be very old and nearing death,
he or she would collect all their money, jewels, and anything valuable, put it
in a jar, and bury it somewhere where nobody would ever find it. Then,
many years later - if the 'spirits' were pleased with you, they'd
show you where you buried the loot in your next incarnation. Bill
said he had an Uncle strike it rich because one of these things showed him where
a jar full of money was buried.
I didn't know much about the Bible when Bill
told me this story, but I do now. According to Hebrews 9:27, the theology
of reincarnation can not be true. The Apostle Paul clearly states that
"...it is appointed only once for men to die, and after this, the
judgment". The demon that appears as a column of fire, therefore, is a
demonic spirit assigned to the specific two-fold task: 1. Deceiving the
Thai people into believing reincarnation, and 2. Hoarding their family fortunes
greedily away, thereby preventing their children from obtaining an
inheritance. What a waste. What an ingenious deception...
Several years later, after I was finished with
the Army, I worked in the Central Unified School District as a substitute
janitor. While there, I met another janitor that was an Asian who was from
Thailand just as Bill was. I decided to test Bill's statement from years
before about what he said concerning the general knowledge that anyone
from Thailand would know that the forest in Thailand was off limits at night
time. Sure enough, this lady was filled with even more outlandish stories
than Bill's! She not only confirmed everything Bill said, but added to it
with some terrifying personal encounters of her own. She said that some
places in Thailand were filled with such evil, powerful spirits - groups of
people would just fall over dead! She said her own brother was almost
killed by a demon in just that manner. She and her brother were stranded
somehow, I can't remember how, perhaps their car broke down - and they were
trying to get to a house before dark. She said that suddenly her brother
became sleepy and fell down on the ground. From years before this, she
recalled a time when she was in a car with some other people while they were
driving through a forested area. Suddenly several people in the car fell
unconscious, and one of them never woke up. He died. Remembering the
incident, she didn't know why it didn't affect her in the past, or why it wasn't
affecting her at the moment, but she knew she had to keep her brother awake and
get him inside a house. She struggled to stand him up, and managed to
revive him enough to walk. They found a small log cabin, but it was
abandoned. It was the only thing there, and she debated whether to stay
there or not. In her indecisiveness, her brother passed out again.
She decided that she had to get him to a place where he could get medical
attention, because she believed he could die any second. Again she revived
him, and they continued down the deserted road, but to her horror, she saw an
immense, black blob of a mass moving toward them. She immediately turned
around, and her brother passed out again. She must have had a rush of
adrenaline, because she said she was so scared, she managed to get her brother
to the cabin, either by carrying him or dragging him. She couldn't
remember which.
When she reached the cabin and made her way
inside, she felt that she might be safe. She quickly built a fire, and
intermittently ran back and forth between the fire and her brother. He
kept passing out, and she was doing everything she could to keep him
awake. Suddenly, the door opened up, and the large, black blob flowed into
the cabin. She was terrified, but ran to her brother, refusing to abandon
him. Amazingly, the blob moved over to the stack of firewood, grabbed a
few logs, and tossed them into the fire. It then sat right on top of the
fire as if it were sitting in a chair. She said it continued to feed the
fire, and sit on it for a duration of about two hours. Finally, it simply
decided to leave. About 15 minutes after it was gone, her brother woke
up. He couldn't remember a thing.
I didn't know this woman very well, but if she
was lying, she certainly had a good poker face. I asked her if either she,
or any of her friends were Christians.
