Demonization, Responsibility, and Authority

The following is an excerpt from The Handbook for Spiritual Warfare, by Ed Murphy (pp. 58-60):

My daughter attended college while living at home. Being a swimmer, she spent each evening at the college pool. There she became acquainted with a young man who was on the college swim team. One day she told me about him. "Dad, I met this handsome, neat guy named Pat at school. He's on the swim team. I have been trying to witness to him but he says he's an atheist. He's one of the most moral guys I have ever met. He never swears. His talk is always above reproach and he's a perfect gentleman around girls. I wish I could reach him for Christ. Could we all pray for his salvation?"

Of course we all agreed. Weeks went by, but Pat's spiritual resistance remained unchanged. He was quite willing to talk about God and Christ, but he had no personal interest in God for his own life. He was interested in Carolyn, however.

One day Carolyn asked if we could invite Pat to go to church with us the next Sunday morning and have lunch with us afterwards. Then I could have sometime alone with him to talk to him about Christ. We agreed. I happened to be speaking in the college Sunday School class that Sunday, and Pat attended. He was polite and seeming right at home with the other college young people. After lunch that Sunday I asked if we could talk alone, and he readily agreed.

We talked for at least an hour, but got nowhere. Though Pat listened attentively and was very courteous, he maintained his unbelief in the existence of a personal God.

"I wish i could believe like you and Carolyn, Mr. Murphy," he said " but i cannot. I don't know why, but i cannot. It's all very confusing to me. I don't usually have trouble thinking things through, but when it comes to God and Christ i draw a blank. It doesn't have any meaning to me."

Later I told Carolyn that Pat's mind was like the mind spoken by the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:4. "The god of this world has blinded his mind until he cannot grasp even the elementary things about God, man, sin, Christ, and salvation", I told Carolyn. "I have never dealt with a person so totally blind to spiritual truth."

"I know you like him. I do too. We all do. He is a gentle, kind, and courteous young man. But unless his mind and heart are opened by God, there is no future for you with him. You would not want to spend the rest of your life with an atheist."

Carolyn agreed but determined to continue her witness. I could see she felt drawn to him but trusted her to make the right decision at the right time.

A couple of months latter I was on a long overseas trip. In Greece I found a letter from Carolyn waiting for me. It was a "bombshell".

"Dear Dad," Carolyn wrote. "The most amazing thing happened with Pat. After you left I really began to press him about his need of Christ. I told him I was tired of his intellectual reasons for being an atheist. I was just as intellectual as he; yet Christ was the most real person in my life."

"I told him his problems were not intellectual but moral and spiritual. He was a sinner but too proud to admit it and humble himself before God, confess his sins, and choose to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as His Lord and Savior. I told him he was blinded, confused, and bound by the Devil and that he was responsible to turn against the Devil and believe God."

"I had learned that Pat had come from a very disfunctional home. His mother and dad separated when he was a teenager. He loved his dad very much, he had no respect for his mother. He saw his home disintegrate before his eyes. Shortly after the separation, his dad suddenly died of a heart attack. His mother then lied about his age and put him in the military to get him out of the home when he was only 17.

"He asked me, 'Where was this so-called God of yours while my home was breaking up? What kind of God is He to allow such evil in the world?'

"I told him that i did not have all the answers for his anger with God and life," Carolyn wrote. "But i had the answer to his confusion, and that answer was in Christ. Finally i told him that unless he opened his mind and heart to give God a chance in his life, we would have to stop going out together. The boyfriend i wanted had to love Christ even as i did."

"Dad, we were sitting together on a park bench in Starboard Park near our home. It had rained heavily the night before, and the ground was covered with water and mud puddles. Suddenly the weirdest thing i have ever seen in my life happened before my eyes.

"Pat's body levitated off the bench and he was thrown backwards over the back of the bench. He hit mud puddle with a splash. He rolled around until he was totally covered with mud. He suddenly sprang up and jumped around on his haunches, just like an ape. His eyes were glazed over and radiated hatred against me. He stuck his tongue out and hissed and spit at me. Then from his throat came a torrent of swear words and blasphemies that were totally demonic.

"Dad, I knew that was not Pat glaring at me, spitting at me, cursing me and Christ, and hopping around me in the mud. It was a demon.

"I tried to remember all you had taught us about dealing with demons in manifestation, but i was alone and i was scared. I began to quote God's word against them and that made them even more furious. I prayed, cryed and continued to quote God's promisesof protection for me and salvation for Pat through the blood of Christ. That really agitated the demons. Finally, i began to sing the children's testimony chorus, 'Jesus Loves Me This I Know.' I changed the words and sang by faith Pat's salvation in his behalf since he could not do it himself,

Jesus Loves Pat, this i know,
For the Bible tells me so.

As i did so i began to march in circles around Pat, singing with all my heart. The demons never took their eyes off me but hopped around in the mud as i circled them.

"After an hour of this i was so tired i could hardly walk. I knew i needed help. I remembered that two of our mission leaders who had experience with demons lived near by, so jumped in the car and went to their home. Thanks God both were home and agreed to return with me to help set Pat free.

"When we reached the park Pat was not there. He lives in an apartment not too far away, so we went there. We found the door open and Pat sitting on the couch, half dazed but in his right mind. The men prayed with him. There were still some hang-on demons, but basically Pat was set free.

"'Carolyn,' Pat said,'I do not remember one thing that happened from the time you began to speak firmly to me about my sin of pride and my need to repent, humble myself, and accept Christ as my Lord and Savior. Suddenly everything went blank. The next i knew, i was sittinbg in a mud puddle in the park covered with mud, and you were gone. I could not figure out what had happened to me or why you had left. I walked home in total confusion.

"'i took off my filthy clothes and began to take a shower. As i looked up to adjust the shower head i saw a vision. The cross of Christ superimposed across the shower head and suddenly i was free. All that raced through my mind was,

Jesus loves me, this i know
for the Bible tells me so.

"'I cried my confession to God, and He heard me. I called upon Jesus, and He came into my life and washed all my sins away.

"'I now know there is a God and He is my Father. I know that Jesus Christ is real, and He is now my Lord and savior.'"

Though i have told this story a dozen times, it still brings tears to my eyes and joy to my heart. When i returned from overseas i spent hours whit Pat in prayer and bible study. He had already joined the college group of a local church and was witnessing for Christ.

Was he demonized? Yes, he was severly demonized. When did the demons go out? I don't know. Possibly they left when Carolyn was commanding their exit in the park and proclaiming Pat's salvation by faith in song. I have seen it happen that way.

Perhaps they went out when the Lord came to Pat in the shower and, for the first time in his life, he could believe and proclaim his own salvation.

Was that the last of Pat's problems with demons? No. He was attacked again and again. He had to learn ongoing self deliverance. He had to come to stronger Christians for prayer and even more deliverance. Deliverance is more of a process than a one time once-and-for-all-crisis-event for almost all severely demonized persons. It was so for Pat.

How is Pat today? He walks faithfully with God for many years now. He is a wonderful husband and father. He is an outstanding church leader. He is one of my closest Christian friends.