I had a good but all too short three days in Honolulu before leaving Tuesday morning to return to Indonesia with brief stop in Tokyo and overnight in Taipei on the way.
My friend Sue brought me and two ladies to Sunday evening service and one of the ladies asked about spiritual warfare. She had heard various teachings ranging from ‘demons are not real’ to ‘you must be constantly aware or demons will destroy your life,’ and she was confused.
The Bible contains many stories of casting out demons: demons that caused illness, that enabled fortune telling, that caused something like epilepsy, and many others. Today indeed we can hear teaching that these demons are only figures of speech, figments of imaginations. Yet it is recorded that Jesus spoke with demons. The Bible stories are written as though demons are actual beings. I believe the Bible in most of these cases means exactly what it says and says exactly what it means, that these are not allusions to feelings, but there are actual beings. My experiences, mostly in Asia, but also in Hawaii, in my limited African experience, and even in some places in America, indicate that these spirits are indeed real and there are often physical manifestations when they are present.
Sue related a story that happened some 23 years ago in Hawaii, that I had forgotten about. Some friends had moved into a house in Hawaii Kai (a suburb east of Honolulu) up in the valley against the majestic mountains. They had often heard what they assumed were wild cats - it sounded like a woman’s screams, often very angry. Other strange, inexplicable things had also been happening. They didn’t think much of it until one night their teenage daughter woke them up. ‘Something’ had been in her bedroom, sat on her chest, and she couldn’t breathe. Our friends had called us to come do spiritual warfare, or house cleaning.
Behind the house were the remains of an ancient Hawaiian rock wall, indicating that the place had been inhabited long ago. During the course of our prayer walk, one of our team had a vision in which it was revealed to her that the house was built in the middle of an ancient pathway, and the spirits were upset about this. Other details were revealed, but to keep the story short, we bound the spirits, and no more screams were heard during nights, no more visitations occurred, and other strange things stopped happening.
Demons, or spirits, are real, just as in Jesus’ time. We have power over them, just as Jesus did. I don’t subscribe to either end of the spectrum from ‘they don’t exist’ to ‘they control your life.’ but I do say that Christians should be aware of the reality and prepared to act if they manifest.
This exchange on our way home from church brought many more stories to my memory. Some of these stories about encounters with spirits I have posted in Shepherds and Sheep - click on the link if you are interested.
I am writing this while on the road, and am not sure if I will be able to post either in Taipei during my overnight, or in Jakarta after I land on Thursday.
I am looking forward to my dinner with the participants of the For Lovers Only retreat and hearing stories of how the event may have changed their home and church lives. I will keep you posted!
— HWK ---
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