Berserk2
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jdee,
Let me share a couple of family exoeriencees. (1) My Usncle George was a Pentecostal pastor. When his little boy (my cousin Eldon, now a psychiatrist) was about 3 years old, George was asked to perform an exorcism at a woman's house. My aunt Ruth waited with Eldon in the car. At the moment the exorcism succeeded, little Eldon's eyes rulled up in his head, so that only the whites were visible and he started screaming in terror incessantly. Of course, he was too young too understand the concept of exorcism. But whatever entity had just been expelled from that woman was now trying to possess him. After a long period of fervent prayer, Eldon finally found release. All he now recalls of this incident is a vision of himself being safely cradled in the arms of Jesus.
So was this entity a demon, malevolent discarnate human, or some other form of negative energy? I keep an open mind, suffice to say that it was harmful and needed to be exorcised.
(2) When my brother Doug [now a doctor] was 16, he and I were watching Hockey Night in Canada and badgering our poor mother to give us more hotdogs and ice cream. Suddenly and without warning, Doug went into a trance. When he came out of it, he told me that God had just given him the name of a young man (IB) who was possessed, would be at a certain coffee house in our city, and needed Doug to perform an exorcism. Now Doug had never talked like this before or since and had never done an exorcism. So I didn't take him seriously until he got up and went to the bus stop for what turned out to be a 7 mile February bus ride to the coffee house. After he left, the shock of what he was about to do dawned on me and I prayed for his protection. He came back around midnight and shared this story.
When he arrived at the coffee house, there was nothing unusual and he began to feel rather foolish. Then a stranger walked up to him and strangely asked, "You're here on a special mission, aren't you?" Now why would a stranger say that? This remark prompted Doug to stay. Then there was a commotion outside. A gang of young toughs were picking fights with people who tried to enter the coffeeshop. Doug realized that the ringlinger was IB. So he bravely went outside and calmly told IB: "IB, God has revealed to me that you are possessed and has sent me to do the exorcism." This remark struck them as hysterically funny and IB retorted, "OK, bring it on!" At that point, Doug didn't know what to do; so he simply bowed his head and prayerfully touched IB lightly on the head. At this, IB fell to the ground as if he had been shot and writhed like a serpent for about 2 minutes. Then IB meekly said, "Thank you." His gang buddies were so scared they felt the need to convert on the spot, but this was a temporary conversion based on fear. IB went on to have a successful career as an author and a TV personality.
There were obviously very different paranormal manifestatations in both cases. I'm grateful for the effective use of exorcism, but I don't presume to identify the nature of the invasive entities, beyond that they were harmful.
As a minister, I'm sometimes asked to perform an exorcism. I have never agreed to do this, because I always insist that a thorough psychological examinatiion be performed first. Most alleged possession cases are in my experience misdiagnosed cases of psychological disorder. In such cases, it can do much harm to convince the psychologically ill person that he has a demon. In my view, exorcism must be a tool of last resort when all other alternatives have been ruled out.
By tghe way, the New Testament acknowledges the existence of malevolent or mischievous elemental spirits as well as demons.
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