Mysteries of Demonic Oppression and Possession

[Deadworm]

I am a member of an interdenominational weekly Monday prayer group of 5 that has met for a few years now. We have seen the blind see, malignant brain tumors vanish, blood clots extending from the ankle to the groin instantly vanish, and broken relationships restored or at least improved. But we have also experienced frustrating deaths and relationships remaining toxic, despite our prayers. Our group attests the power of the Spirit, but also creates at least 2 problems for me.

(1) With each answer to prayer, my expectations rise, and when they are disappointed, high expectations increase frustration over my inability to answer why. I can't always claim that it was just God's time to take her. I need to ask whether my (our) faith failed in specific cases, because I recognize that my faith needs strengthening and greater consistency.

(2) My biggest problem arises from 2 of our godly members, who used to be active members of a 12-person spiritual warfare group in their Methodist church. These 12 fasted and prayed regularly for hours, studied biblical principles of spiritual warfare, and confronted demonic possession and oppression cases in a biblically sound and thoroughly prayed-up way. Yet in a couple of years, all but 2 of them (my prayer group friends) permanently dropped out of church and the pastor was forced to leave the church because of his interactions with this group. One moment one member was rejoicing over the power of God's grace to overcome evil, and the next moment he was uncontrollably thrashing around in his car, foaming at the mouth in an effort to fight off possession. I must be honest and confess that this spiritual warfare group seems to be a shocking case where Satan ultimately won, despite its successes! But neither I nor my 2 prayer group friends understand why; and our new prayer group has been very effective.

So in this thread, I will discuss experiences with the demonic--my own, those of friends and family members, and more in the hope of gaining much needed insight into how to handle current cases that God has brought my way. Your own experiences and insights will be appreciated. In my next planned post I will recount experiences of family and friends with exorcism.

 

[Alofa Atu]

Devil possession is very real, but not what most think it is, and definitely not what Roman Catholicism thinks it is.

These people, on the other hand, have personal testimony, and with the highest levels of occult:

 

[Deadworm]

(1) At my aunt's funeral, my uncle G and cousin E shared this account of an exorcism. G, a Pentecostal pastor, had been called to perform an exorcism on a woman in town. G brought his wife and a 3-year-old E along with him to wait in the car while he entered the woman's house to perform the exorcism. At the precise moment when the demon was expelled, E's eyes rolled up, so that only the whites were visible, and he began to scream incessantly in terror. The expelled demon was trying to possess him! His alarmed parents fervently prayed for his deliverance as G drove home. Finally, after much agonizing intercessory prayer for deliverance, little E was freed and calmed down. E (now a psychiatrist) told me that the only thing he recalls from his deliverance was a vision of being safely cradled in Jesus' loving arms.

Of course, few of us recall much of our lives as 3-year-olds. Prior to this, I might have denied the possibility of demonic possession of innocent children of devout Christian parents. I have since learned of other cases of possession of young toddlers. I must confess that it bothers me that they might not automatically be protected from this. Thank God, little E was delivered!
(2) The Lord's choice of exorcists can be very surprising. When I was a young college student, my brother D (age 16) and I were watching Hockey Night in Canada on TV

 

[Deadworm]

(1) At my aunt's funeral, my uncle G and cousin E shared this account of an exorcism. G, a Pentecostal pastor, had been called to perform an exorcism on a woman in town. G brought his wife and a 3-year-old E along with him to wait in the car while he entered the woman's house to perform the exorcism. At the precise moment when the demon was expelled, E's eyes rolled up, so that only the whites were visible, and he began to scream incessantly in terror. The expelled demon was trying to possess him! His alarmed parents fervently prayed for his deliverance as G drove home. Finally, after much agonizing intercessory prayer for deliverance, little E was freed and calmed down. E (now a psychiatrist) told me that the only thing he recalls from his deliverance was a vision of being safely cradled in Jesus' loving arms.

Of course, few of us recall much of our lives as 3-year-olds. Prior to this, I might have denied the possibility of demonic possession of innocent children of devout Christian parents. I have since learned of other cases of possession of young toddlers. I must confess that it bothers me that they might not automatically be protected from this. Thank God, little E was delivered!

(2) The Lord's choice of exorcists can be very surprising. When I was a young college student in Winnipeg, my brother D (age 16) and I were watching Hockey Night in Canada on TV and were badgering our poor mother for more hot dogs and ice cream. My brother and I were in a raunchy mood, when suddenly D became very serious, as if he were listening to a message. He then calmly told me that God had just called him to take a bus downtown to perform an exorcism and got up to leave. This news was so bizarre that I didn't really take it seriously and frivolously replied, "OK, don't be late!" Then D left. He was gone for hours and I began to be very concerned. When he finally returned, he was frightened and shared this story with me.

He had been given the name of the possessed young man E and the Christian coffee house where he could be found. But he found nothing unusual when he arrived there and began to feel foolish as he waited. He was about to leave when a worker there said something bizarre to him: "You're here on a special mission, aren't you?" D took that as a sign to wait longer. Then it happened. E arrived with a gang, who were challenging guests to a fight as they tried to enter the coffee house. D (only 5'8") boldly went outside and confronted E and his gang, saying, "E, the Lord has shown me that you are possessed and He has sent me to exorcize you!" E laughed loudly and replied, "OK, bring it on!" Now D has never performed an exorcism and had given little thought on how to proceed; he was simply answering a divine call to go and be present for this task. So D simply bowed his head and gently touched E on the forehead. Instantly, E reacted as if struck by lightning. He fell prostrate and was foaming at the mouth for a couple of minutes. Then he became very still and meekly replied, "Thank you." The other gang members were so terrified that they wanted to embrace Christ as their Savior, but I didn't get the impression that their conversion lasted.

When a very frightened D returned home, he opened his Bible and the first verse his eyes lit up on read, "See to it that you tell no one!" He shared his testimony with me, but to no one else. In fact decades later, he is still too terrified to discuss this exorcism with me. D is now a doctor in Colorado and E became a highly successful TV writer and performer.