I promised some friends of mine that I would start a new series, where I gave testimoniesfrom my experience of supernatural experiences in my life.  This spins off of the Reminiscing posts from last year.  For those who may want to read them, go here, here and here.  They detail how I got exposed to the Spirit’s work, and then baptised in the Spirit!

Anyway…

Coming off of my deliverace series, I thought I would start of this supernatural series with the acount of my first encounter with a demon! (Actually this is a two for one special, because I can’t tell you that story without telling you the story of the first miracle I physically witnessed!)  So strap on your seatbelts!

If you have read the Reminiscing posts, you would know I grew up in a completely non-charismatic church.  I was a young firebrand who was in love with Jesus, but had never seen a literal miracle first hand, had only thought of demons while reading the Bible, and the presence of the Spirit was relegated to weeping at the altar rail…

By the time of this story, however, I had been a part of the Universities and Colleges’ Christian Fellowship (UCCF) for a couple years and so was accustomed to seeing the Spirit fall upon the gathering, especially in passionate worship.  This was one of those times.  There were close to 40 young people gathered in this house for a weekend retreat and we were having a glorious encounter with the Lord!  We had started singing without regard to time or schedules, and after around an hour or so of unadulterated worship, those who spoke in tongues were starting to break out as the Presence of God became thicker and thicker.  

One guy, who we’ll call Alex, started to speak in tongues along with others.  Ok, no issue there. Suddenly however, his voice changed. It became low, and gutteral – even although he seemed to still be speaking tongues at that point.  I heard it first, and I whipped my head around and shouted, “What the hell was that????” (Not to offend, for those sensitive…. I was shocked!) The others who then heard him were as shocked as I was – and then there was a mass  exodus away from him!  And then, there was me – and a young lady who had been filled with the Spirit the night before!  All the people who knew what demons were because of coming from some sort of charismatic background were fleeing, and this girl and I – babes in the faith compared – were running toward him. 

By this time Alex had manifested completely (was taken over, for the uninformed) and was climbing on the lattice wall at the back like an animal.  A couple others gained some measure of courage and we wrestled him to the ground and started to command this spirit out of him!  For a while he grunted and growled while six of us sat on him to keep him down.  Then, out of the blue – one of the demonic entities spoke up… in a cultured English accent!

“I’m not coming out,” he said.

“In Jesus’ name, identify yourself!”  One of the others, more experienced than I, picked up.

“My name is Nathan.”

So we tried and tried to cast out Nathan and he wouldn’t go.  He was resolute and defiant. 

At one point I got so frustrated I jumped on Alex’s chest and started thumping him!

“Come out!” *thump*  ”In Jesus’ name, come out!”  *thump*  

Nathan said, “You’re hurting Alex!”  But I knew that demons are pathological liars – so I just continued, saying, “You’re lying!”  *thump* *thump*  :lol:  (It was later when I realized that Natan was probably telling the truth….. oops!)

(Disclaimer -For anyone who is reading this who is concerned that I am currently in the deliverance ministry – it was my first time and I was frustrated! It was also over ten years ago! Since that time I have had numerous experiences – and have been reputably trained as well – so no physical beatings will be employed to get the demons out of  your life!  Now – back to the story…)  :lol:  

While this was going on,  the girl who was with me tried to call her pastor, but – surprisingly – he didn’t seem interested to help!

Like I said, there were about six of us trying to minister to Alex, and the others were all outside in another room.  They were helping as best they knew how by praying and lustily singing songs about the Blood of Jesus.  One girl had a small bottle of baby oil, and she had the idea that she wanted everyone to be anointed and prayed over for protection.  The others agreed and, while still singing, the oil was tipped over again and again while, one by one, people’s foreheads were anointed and prayers were being sent up.

And then – disaster!

It was only a small bottle of oil – that was already less than half-full when the anointing started – and there were about 40 young people there…. so when around half the people still needed to be anointed, the oil ran out!   We didn’t know what to do! One girl grabbed the baby bottle, nearly empty, and cried out to the Lord.

“Father! We need more oil! We haven’t finished praying for everyone, and the oil has run out!  Please send as much oil as we need until we don’t need any more!”  We all agreed, crying out to the Lord in unison….

And then we looked at the bottle – which was empty… and we literally saw the oil reforming at the bottom of it!

The girl who had the bottle was wide-eyed as she poured out some more oil, and anointed three people.  This drained the oil that had been formed – but then it reformed again, to the same exact point as the last time!  Every time she anointed three people, the oil reformed to the same point, until everyone was anointed!   This miraculous provision of oil happened all night!

By this time, Alex had been able to come back to himself, with Nathan and the other demons dispatched…. or so we thought! (That’s another post!)  Then we realized that what he had been doing – which opened the door to his demonization – was playing io a heavy metal band record backwards (yes, this was before cd’s.)  This is called backmasking, is defined by Wikipedia as a technique  ” in which a sound or message is recorded backward onto a track that is meant to be played forward.”  He was testing the theory that heavy metal rock bands were using the technique to mask prayers and incantations to Satan.  He had good intentions; he was trying to test it so that he could warn the students in his Sunday School class against it – but he found himself repeating the incantations and thus inviting evil spirits into his own life.  

The oil continued to pour out.  Even when we stood the bottle on its end to drain out the oil for over fifteen minutes, it would grow right back up to the same point… and only stopped the next morning when one guy decided to wash it out with soap!  (I wondered later, when I was more mature,  if it should have been a sign that the demons hadn’t left Alex’s life even although they had seemed to have been ousted, and what would have happened had we used the oil to anoint him.)

But there’s the first story!  Next, I guess I will let you in on the story when Alex did get set free, the next morning (a Sunday) when we assembled with the church.  God is awesome!