Invisible Enemies Read online

  I had my work cut out for me, between the hippie kids from broken homes and their parents, many of whom had been touched by the Spirit to realize how they had wounded their children. There was no shortage of those seeking deliverance.

  I began to support Derek Prince Ministries financially. I was delighted to find his repertoire well-balanced. He had hundreds of teachings apart from the small portion on spiritual warfare themes. We often exchanged letters, and he encouraged me in the progress of my lay ministry.

  My first face-to-face encounter with Derek Prince was rather unique. In 1969, I attended a conference where he was speaking. It was held at a Methodist church in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. On the third day, he had two sessions explaining the deliverance ministry.

  During the first session, a well-dressed young woman came to the end of the row where I was seated and politely indicated that she would like to pass me in order to take a seat further in. I stood to let her go past me, and, to my shock, when she slipped by I saw a vision of the words lady of the evening tattooed across her forehead.

  During a break in the teaching, I approached her and said I would like to pose a question to her. She assented, so, hoping to sound tactful, I asked if she had trouble relating to men. Her answer was frank. “Not much. I’m a hooker.”

  We chatted for a few minutes, and she told me that she had come for ministry. Later in the meeting, those needing help were all instructed to go to a large room set aside for that purpose. She asked if I would be willing to accompany her, admitting she was afraid to go alone. I consented.

  Rather than minister personally to each individual, Derek conducted an en masse style of group deliverance. From the podium, he began by calling out various descriptive names of demons, category by category. He began with spirits affecting the emotions such as anxiety, fear and rage. Then he moved on to spirits pertaining to mental fixations like claustrophobia and anorexia. Next, he called out demons that intensify sins of the flesh such as fornication and addiction to pornography. When Derek called out “whoredom,” the young woman grabbed my arm and began to thrash about. As I attempted to steady her, I commanded whoredom to leave. She screamed, gagged and began to vomit up large quantities of black, slimy sputum.

  Derek saw what was happening and came over to offer assistance. I introduced myself, and explained a little about the situation before him. He recognized my name from our exchange of letters and greeted me warmly. Then he quickly got down to business. He called out numerous other sexual spirits. Many of these made their exit in streams of the blackish mucous. After being set free, the woman regained her composure and raised her hands, laughing and praising the name of the Lord.

  From that point on, it was as if Derek and I were joined at the hip. Because my business was seasonal, I was free to join him at his invitation in ministry venues throughout the United States and abroad. In 1974 I entered full-time ministry, and in 1975 I became pastor of the church that sent out Derek and other colleagues of his into ministry. Our friendship and companionship in ministry spanned 35 years until he passed away in 2003. Throughout the years, people would occasionally inquire about how we met. Our standard answer was, “A demon introduced us.”

  My Wilderness Experience

  Before Jesus launched His public ministry, the Holy Spirit led Him into the wilderness. There He underwent forty days of satanic inquisition targeted at raising questions about the legitimacy of His identity and His calling.

  My wilderness experience began shortly after meeting Derek and lasted a year. I believe its length and intensity were divinely permitted. In retrospect, the mental assaults served to give me better understanding of the devil’s schemes. They certainly gave me greater empathy for those suffering from the enemy’s influence.

  The New Testament helps us understand that the rain of the Holy Spirit on one’s life brings forth good fruit and also exposes troublesome brambles (see Hebrews 6:7–8). I was ecstatic about the sense of well-being and spiritual productivity the anointing of the Spirit fostered in my life. Simultaneously, I was discouraged that His showers of blessing seemed to reveal so many thorns in the soil of my psyche. The attacks on my mind were fierce, wicked, relentless harassment.

  First of all, I began to have vile hallucinations that had no justifiable explanation. My family had no history of mental problems, and I had never tampered with recreational drugs. The hallucinations took the form of grotesque assaults on Jesus while He was dying on the cross. The scenes pummeled me day and night. To say I had a hundred daily episodes is not an exaggeration.

  Secondly, I was bombarded with insecurities about everything from my salvation to my masculinity. I could easily dismiss the former, but the latter was soul rattling. I did not have effeminate mannerisms. Nor did I have any curiosity or interest in the subject of homosexuality. It was a nonissue until the demons started pounding me.

  My efforts to end these unfounded assaults failed completely. I employed every spiritual strategy I knew. Flaming rebukes from the Scriptures did not scorch away the harassment. In desperation, I got rebaptized, but that did not drown out the hallucinations. Fasting did not starve them out.

  I made frequent trips to Macon to get help. Pastor VanHoozier’s diagnosis was that the assaults were demonic in origin. But those haunting demons were sly. All symptoms of the battle would cease upon my arrival at the church parking lot. They would lie dormant the whole time I was there. The positive side of that dormancy was that the days spent at the church in Macon were more productive. I joined the staff on a part-time basis and matured greatly in my ability to minister to some of those who flocked to the church seeking freedom. On the negative side, as soon as I began my departure back home, the fears and horrific visions would resurface with a vengeance.

  After a year of unspeakable torment, I finally got free. I was on my way back to Jackson from Macon and the wicked barrages were pounding me full throttle. I was screaming to the Lord for liberation, even as demonic suggestions of committing suicide ricocheted throughout my mind like bullets from a machine gun.

  It was at that critical moment that I heard a little whisper drifting into my consciousness: Neither life nor death, nor angels, nor powers, nor any created thing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus your Lord. I recognized those words as a Spirit-inspired rendering of portions of Romans 8:38–39. The effect was immediate.

  While driving, I told Satan emphatically that I would not waste another minute with concerns about his antics. He had fired his best shots, but my confidence in God’s love for me had never wavered. Furthermore, I affirmed that the Lord knew that my love for Him was unquenchable. As my declaration ended, I sensed relaxation in my spirit, soul and body.

  Within a few moments, I had a mental picture of myself playing “cowboy” at the age of four atop my red rocking horse. I was rocking away in pursuit of imaginary villains and “bang-banging” at them with my toy pistol. As I watched, I saw evil spirits entering my abdominal region and settling into compartmentalized nesting places, like pigeons coming home to roost.

  I understood this scene to be showing me that the evil spirits tormenting me had entered during my childhood. I commanded the evil spirits of fear and of vile hallucinations to leave me. I felt them depart without any resistance, lifting from my shoulder and streaming out of my ears. From that moment to the present, I have been completely free of that harassment. Not the slightest twinge of those spirits has bothered me again. I can truly testify that “those whom the Son sets free are free indeed.”

  The invasion by powers of darkness that I saw myself experiencing as a child on the rocking horse were not due to a traumatic home environment. Nor, at that young age, were obvious sins activated in my life. I was just a happy little kid enjoying myself. I cannot offer a definitive reason why they were able to enter me then.

  As we noted in chapter 1, there are occasions when either sin or trauma can contribute to the entry of demons, but now I had learned that there does not need to b
e an instigating factor in every situation. The safe ground, again, is to recognize that evil spirits are opportunists, and treat them as such. In their craving to enter human vessels, they can and do enter innocent victims through whom they attempt to express their satanically assigned purposes.

  The tactics of demons function like those of pedophiles: All they need is for the victim to be alone and oblivious to the danger. We will explore pertinent factors in both the “cause and effect” models and the “no-fault” models of demonic invasion in upcoming chapters.

  But, What If?

  Regularly during periods of personal worship, I ponder “what if” questions: What if I had never heard about and received deliverance? Is it possible that the spirits compelling me to fantasize about women and to masturbate could have seduced me into becoming an adulterer? Might I have grown so tired of suppressing my inner anger that I would have become a tyrant and destroyed our family life? Is there any way under heaven I could have spiraled into insanity and degradation as a result of the hallucinations?

  All of those things have happened to conscientious husbands and Christian statesmen no less committed to righteousness than I. Biblical knowledge and real-life experience confirm that the types of demons that plagued my life, as well as multitudes of other types, are common and widespread. They are as active in affluent Christianized Western democracies as they are in tribal communities of Third World nations.

  The Word of God tells us in Hosea 4:6 that God’s people are destroyed due to lack of knowledge. The familiar adage “What you don’t know can’t hurt you” is a lie. What we don’t know has infinite capacity to hurt us and those whom we hold dear.

  In the next chapter we will expand our knowledge of demonic intentions to degrade and destroy human beings. There is war in the heavens of which we should be aware.

  There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased with both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.

  —C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

  Skeptics consider the idea of invisible evil powers to be primitive foolishness and religious nonsense. Proponents counter that Satan, his angels and evil spirits surely influence our day-to-day lives. The only point the two sides might agree on is the universal claim of their existence.

  Along with the Jewish Tanakh and Christian Bible, the mythologies, literature and art of multiple religions and civilizations have, for centuries, featured evil spiritual entities dwelling in a parallel dimension with access to human populations.

  The descriptions of these creatures vary widely. The king of evil, Satan, is usually portrayed as a malicious-looking giant with wings and horns. Evil angels reflect his image, but are normally smaller. Some have wings; others do not. Demons are often depicted as ugly monkey-like entities that are diminutive in stature. Many are red in color with reptilian scales, and others have ghoulishly pale skin.

  A number of nations lay claim to spirit beings with humanlike features and behavior that ranges from mischievous benevolence to orneriness to evil destruction. In the British Isles, Europe and Scandinavia, it is the fairies, leprechauns, elves, dwarves, goblins, hobgoblins and trolls. Islam has its jinns. The water spirits of West Africa and the duwendes of the Philippines also have human features.

  Two Examples of Sightings

  Do these physical descriptions sound farfetched? Undoubtedly so! Yet, while it is not a day-to-day occurrence for most of us, sightings of evil spiritual creatures are actually not so unusual. Here are two stories that show what I mean.

  A couple of years ago in the late fall, I was hunting wild boar in a Florida wildlife area with two of my grandsons. Tino was eleven years old and Michael was nine at the time. The boys were outpacing me, with Tino in the lead.

  Suddenly, he yelled, “Rattlesnake!” I rushed to his side and found him standing still, paralyzed with fright. A two-foot snake was rattling and strike-coiled within three feet of the boy. I shot it, and when I was sure Tino wanted to continue with our hunting trip, we walked on.

  I settled the boys on hunting stands and took a place between them. About fifteen minutes had passed when Tino walked to my side. He was visibly shaken, and his lips quivered as he spoke.

  “Baba, I saw a red monkey-looking thing sitting on a branch. It had its arms folded and was staring at me like it was really mad.”

  I explained that it was probably the demon that had caused the rattlesnake to cross his path. “The devil wanted to hurt us by one of us getting snake-bitten. One of the Lord’s angels kept it from biting you so I could get into position to shoot it.”

  I thanked God for saving Tino, and commanded all demonic powers to leave the vicinity.

  I instructed my grandson about what to do if the evil spirit appeared again. “Tell it you are protected by the angels of God and the blood of Jesus and that you’re not afraid of it. Then order it to go away in the name of Jesus.” Reassured, Tino returned to his place and there were no more appearances.

  I believe Tino’s sighting was authentic. His family attends a Presbyterian church that does not provide teaching about satanic matters. Prudence and I, when the grandchildren visit, do not make a habit of focusing on the topic of demons. There is no reason to assume Tino was predisposed to imagine a demon sighting.

  Another example occurred several years ago when I was invited to speak at a church in General Santos City on Mindanao Island of the Philippines. I was accompanied by a young man named Ralph, a promising evangelist.

  Whenever venturing into unfamiliar ministry locales, it is my custom to arrive several days early. I spend the time there studying the nation’s political and religious histories and observing the culture. My objective is to better understand the population’s perspectives. Having done that, I can intercede for them more intelligently and have greater chances to minister effectively to their needs. On this trip, my studies led me to understand that Filipinos frequently have interactions with spirit beings.

  The most commonly reported encounters are with mystical creatures called duwendes. They are something like elves. Duwendes dwell in trees, caves and earthen mounds. They are said to come out mostly at night, but also at noon each day. These imps are reputed to bring good fortune if acknowledged, but are believed to be capable of imposing curses if ignored. It is not unusual for Filipinos to leave offerings of food around areas suspected to be their lairs. Children often speak of a playful duwende joining in their games.

  While preparing for the first service, I heard a local radio newsman comment on finding the tracks of a duwende in the dust on his office desk. Several hours later, Pastor Burt, pastor of the church where I would be speaking, phoned and asked for help in ministering to the daughter of one of his parishioners. She had been hospitalized in a catatonic state. I dispatched my evangelist associate, Ralph, to handle the assignment.

  Ralph accompanied Pastor Burt to the young lady’s room. Her bed was encircled by her parents and about four members of the hospital’s staff. The lead physician said he was mystified by her condition, as he could find no medical reasons for it. Ralph placed his hands upon the still figure, praying for her to be revived.

  He then remembered my mention of the duwende phenomenon and decided to insert a rebuke of those entities into his prayer. She snapped to consciousness. The young lady told the assembled group that she had seen a duwende that morning, and it frightened her so badly she had passed out. The medical team was deeply impressed by her speedy recovery.

  Ralph presented the plan of salvation, and all of the staff members present confessed Jesus as Savior and Lord. At the service that evening, the parents testified of their daughter’s deliverance, and there was successful ministry to others as a result.

  The Structure of Satan’s Kingdom

  Most Bible students recognize the existence of an
evil entity called Satan, who presides over a kingdom. Prior to becoming God’s enemy, the devil served God as the archangel Lucifer, an anointed cherub.

  At some point in past ages, Lucifer grew tired of subservience to God and instigated an insurrection, persuading a third of the angels to join him in trying to overthrow God’s Kingdom. (See Isaiah 14:12–15; Ezekiel 28:11–17; Revelation 12:2–4, 7–9.) The rebellion failed, Lucifer was renamed Satan, the adversary, and he was ejected from God’s presence along with the other insurrectionist angels, generally referred to as fallen angels.

  Subsequent to his defeat, Satan established a kingdom composed of these fallen angels and other types of evil spirits. His kingdom is located in the heavenly realms, and its influence extends throughout the earth.

  Military Order

  The New Testament provides a sketch of Satan’s domain. It is structured much like a military hierarchy. The devil is commander-in-chief; the fallen angels are his officers; demons are the trench soldiers. Although arguably open to interpretation, numerous details in the Bible relate to the structure and activity of Satan’s kingdom. (My assessment follows. For further biblical study regarding the structure of this kingdom, please refer to the various teachings of Derek Prince and Don Basham, particularly Derek’s book, War in Heaven [Chosen, 2003] and Don’s book, Deliver Us from Evil [Chosen, 2005].)

  Regarding Satan’s rulership, the Bible tells us that he is the father of lies; the god of this age; the prince of the power of the air; and Beelzebub, the ruler of demons (see Matthew 12:24; John 8:44; 2 Corinthians 4:4). The combined titles indicate authoritative rule from heavenly regions extending into the earth below. From the heavenlies, Satan’s forces wage ongoing war against the purposes of God and anything that would ultimately benefit mankind.