7/ Suicide
People have a fascination with the unknown, visiting fortune tellers, or reading the horoscope. Others are fascinated with horror books or movies, yet others become involved in seances and using the ouija boards. Very few people accept that there are actually evil spirits, much less that people are being controlled by them. Yet countless times I have prayed for people and cast demons out in Jesus' mighty name. Evil forces on the T.V. screen are much easier to cope with than evil forces in a person close to you, or the person down the road. Non-Christians and some Christians have the mistaken belief that if you don't believe in something, it doesn't exist. Wrong!
A young woman, in one of my classes, as a teenager had taken part in a seance. Seven or eight years later that act nearly took her life.
Sandra and I became friends after I helped her with some assignments, when she was sick. On one of the occasions when she came to my home she told me about some of the problems she was having, my answer was to hand them over to God. She replied, "He is your God, he won't listen to me."
A few nights later she was woken up to the sound of bongo drums and a voice saying, "You'll never find your God, you belong to me." Satan had obviously been eavesdropping on our conversation in my kitchen.
Eventually she did ask Jesus into her heart. The evil spirit living inside her did not appreciate the presence of the Holy Spirit, for soon afterwards she would visit me with her left arm bandaged from the wrist to the elbow. When I asked the reason for the bandages, she simply replied, "Oh, I cut myself." I understood this to mean that she had hurt herself through a fall or some other accident. While reading Mark 5:1-5, God revealed to me why Sandra's arm was bandaged.
1/ Jesus and his disciples arrived on the other side of Lake Gerasa.
2/ As soon as Jesus got out of the boat, he was met by a man who came out of the burial caves there. This man had an evil spirit in him
3/ and lived among the tombs. Nobody could keep him chained up any more;
4/ many times his feet and hands had been chained, but every time he broke the chains and smashed the irons on his feet. He was too strong for anyone to control him.
5/ Day and night he wandered among the tombs and through the hills, screaming and cutting himself with stones.
As I came to the words, "cutting himself with stones" God said to me, "Sandra". My immediate reaction was, "Oh no she's possessed."
"Tell her," was the next instruction.
After a few attempts, I finally had the courage to confront her. The reply shocked me.
"Yes it's true."
Immediately I decided to ring my minister, so that he could come over and pray for her.
As we waited for his arrival, I asked Sandra to explain why she thought she was possessed. Apparently at the age of fifteen she had participated in a seance. Not believing that such things as evil spirits exist, she had demanded for one to come into her life and to reveal itself. Only then would she believe. Sadly the doubters always want proof. Proof came in the form of a photo. While lying drunk on the floor, somebody had taken a photo of her. Nestled in her blonde hair, on her shoulder, was the face of a grotesque creature. Every time Sandra was drunk the evil spirit would try to kill her - namely by cutting herself.
While the minister and an elder prayed for her, the spirit actually spoke to Sandra; but refused to leave. Over the next weeks the whole church prayed for her, but still the spirit kept trying to kill her. Finally one day, her urgent voice pleaded with me over the phone, to come quickly, as she was dying.
As my car was being repaired I asked my brother Klaus to drive me to her place. Just as I was about to get into the car God told me to get the Bible.
"Lord, what is the point of reading the Bible to a corpse?" I asked. Nonetheless, I ran upstairs and did as I was told.
Neither my brother, nor I, were prepared for the sight that met our eyes. My friend stood in the kitchen, casually supporting herself on the breakfast bar - normally white, now red with her blood. Her face, neck and clothing were also covered in blood, there was even some on the phone, curtains, wall and ceiling. For all that, her greeting was unnaturally cheerful. The can of beer and broken bottle neck, said it all.
Without answering I placed my Bible on the freezer and told my brother we needed to clean her up before we took her to the hospital. Because of the tremendous blood loss, I decided to support her when we were ready to leave. As my left hand held her right arm, I remembered to take my Bible. At my request; my brother passed it to me. What followed comes straight out of a horror movie. Her body became twisted as if she was a rubber doll and a man's voice spoke out of her mouth saying: "Get away from me with that Bible; get away from me with that Bible." Sandra then proceeded to run through the house dragging me behind her. A bull-terrier couldn't have held on tighter and all I could say was, "I rebuke you Satan", over and over again. I didn't even have the clearness of mind to add, "in Jesus' name". In hindsight the scene must have looked rather comical, only my brother and I weren't laughing.
Finally she came to her senses and we were able to leave for the hospital. As we travelled along, a voice piped up from the back seat. "Look I burned my finger."
"How did you manage to do that?" I asked.
"When I dialled your number."
Obviously, Satan didn't want me to turn up, for, had she succeeded in committing suicide, she would have sent herself to hell. God sets the time for us to die, unless someone murders us and that also isn't according to his will. When it comes to dying a natural death, "He sets the time for birth and the time for death ..." (Ecclesiastes 3:2).
During the drive to the hospital, Sandra's constant worry was that I shouldn't pray for her while we were at the hospital. At that stage I was happy to agree to anything. As we sat in the Casualty Department of the district hospital, I couldn't help but think of the whole affair. In my mind I brought the matter before God, not even realising that I was praying. "What is the blockage God? Why hasn't this spirit left her? The church has prayed, I have prayed, what's wrong?" At that moment, to the shock of my brother and myself, a man's voice spoke out of her mouth, hissing at me, "Stop praying, stop praying, you're burning me." In shock, I stopped. At the same time the nurse called Sandra.
While she was being attended to, I impressed upon my brother the need to take the children out, once we got back home. I didn't want them to see what we had seen.
As soon as Sandra entered my home, she ran out onto the balcony screaming at the top of her voice, "I'm free, I'm free". I didn't want the neighbours rushing out to see what was going on, so I gently prised her fingers loose from the railing and led her into the loungeroom. Again she cried out joyfully, "I'm free, I'm free".
I couldn't help but ask, "How do you know you're free?" "As my arm was being stitched, I felt my chest tightening, restricting my breathing. The top half of my body seemed to shrink and I found myself gasping for air. Before the nurse could give me oxygen I vomited green stuff all over the place. At that moment I knew the spirit had left me. By the way, when you picked up the Bible at my place it turned into a ball of fire."
How amazing that the spirit in Sandra should see the Bible in my hand turn into a ball of fire and that is why it twisted her body and spoke out of her mouth. To many people the Bible is just a book, which is carelessly thrown onto the floor, or even used as a footstool for filthy shoes at church. I know this is hard to believe, but I have actually seen people do it.
God taught me an interesting lesson about respecting his Word. My habit was to read the Bible over breakfast. I was careful not to spill coffee onto the pages, but other than that I saw no problems reading the Bible during my meals. That is, until God convicted me otherwise, one morning.
"Would you speak to somebody with your mouth full and food dribbling down your chin?"
"Yuk, no Lord!"
"Well then, don't do it to me."
Needless to say, I never again read the Bible during a meal.
Some months later, I visited a Christian Fellowship. One of the girls was eating a yoghurt, sitting on one half of the Bible, while she was reading the other half. I shared with the group what God had shown me. Immediately, I was classified a religious fanatic. The next day however, one of the girls came and shared the following with me.
"Last night I was reading the Bible and God said to me:" "Do you believe that this is my Word?"
"Yes."
"Well what are you doing eating over my face?"
Since God revealed to me how his Word, the Bible should be treated, the words in John l:1&14 mean so much more.
1) Before the world was created, the Word already existed; he was with God, and he was the same as God. 14) The Word became a human being and, full of grace and truth, lived among us. We saw his glory, the glory which he received as the Father's only Son.
"The Word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double edged sword (Hebrews 4:12).
"The robe He wore was covered with blood. His name is 'The Word of God'" (Revelation 19:13).
The situation surrounding Sandra taught me three important things.
1) The Word of God is mighty and to be highly respected.
2) Prayer is powerful, to the point of burning the demons.
3) Through Jesus Christ we are victorious.
1/ Fiji
2/ Egypt
3/ Israel
4/ Papua New Guinea
5/ Forgive or I cannot forgive you
6/ Jesus still heals today
7/ Suicide
8/ Long Bay Gaol
9/ Attempted murder
10/ Bathurst Gaol
11/ Angels
12/ How to pray
13/ Cords
14/ Counting the cost
15/ The heart condition
16/ Lorraine
17/ Dracula - fact or fiction
18/ If you love me
19/ Being gay
20/ Faith
21/ Roots
22/ Malaysia
23/ Fiji revisited - 1997
24/ What Jesus means to me
25/ My diary entries
26/ Conclusion