Down Memory Lane...

 

This took place December 2012-January 2011, right at the end of my time in India. I shared this story with one of my friends, and she encouraged me to post it. So Beth, here it is. :) 

She was a young girl, maybe 17 or 18 years old. Quiet, hard working, sweet-spirited, everyone loved her. She had committed her life to Jesus in baptism just that summer. I’ll call her Mary.

 

Mary went home to her village in Assam, India, for Christmas break that year. A few days after she left, we got the news that she was demon-possessed. One of the staff was already close to her village with some other girls from the orphanage, so the staff member and the girls went to Mary’s village and brought her back to the orphanage. When the group arrived, I was shocked to see sweet Mary in such a condition. She acted as though drugged, until someone started praying, singing, or speaking of Jesus. Then she went into an “attack,” as we came to call it. The devil was trying to get her to kill herself. In her few semi-lucid moments, Mary told us that the devil was telling her that she was too much of a sinner, that Jesus couldn’t forgive her for something. Then she would start thrashing around, trying to beat her head against the concrete, or some other dangerous action. At times it took seven people to restrain her from hurting herself.

And so the battle began. The Bible says in Ephesians 6:12: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world.” For three weeks we fought for Mary’s life, both physical and spiritual. We fasted and prayed. We sang and prayed. We read the Bible and prayed.

At one point early on, I was trying to hold one of Mary’s arms during an attack. I weighed just over 100 pounds soaking wet, but that ought to be heavy enough to keep one arm from flailing so she doesn’t claw herself, right? Wrong. Not if that arm is flailing under the power of the devil. As we were singing, I was about to lose my grip on her. “Lord,” I prayed, “I can’t hold her any longer! Help me!” Immediately, I felt another pair of hands on mine, and Mary’s arm, though still flailing, was under control. Looking down, the only visible hands on her arm were my own. The memory still sends shivers down my spine.

The devil hated to hear us sing, pray, or read Scripture. As we pulled out the hymnals, Mary would try to grab them out of our hands. As we sang, the demon would shriek and scream at us to stop. I already loved the old hymns and their deep meanings, but they became absolutely precious to me through this experience. Would you like to know some of the hymns the devil hates to hear? Here is a short list, though we sang many, many more:

Power in the Blood

Just as I Am

Amazing Grace

Whiter than Snow

Redeemed, How I Love to Proclaim It

There Is a Fountain

Take My Life and Let It Be

Nothing Between My Soul and the Savior

My Jesus, I Love Thee

Near the Cross

A Mighty Fortress

I Surrender All

Jesus Loves Me

Draw Me Nearer

Amazing Love

Let me share some of the words to that last one, “Amazing Love.”

Long my imprisoned spirit lay

Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;

Thine eye diffused a quick’ning ray,

I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;

My chains fell off, my heart was free;

I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

No condemnation now I dread;

Jesus, and all in Him, is mine!

Alive in Him, my living Head,

And clothed with righteousness divine,

Bold I approach th’ eternal throne,

And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

Can you see why the devil hates the hymns?

After three weeks of this struggle, we were finally able to arrange an anointing service for her. The Lord set her free from the demons in answer to our faith. Mary slept for most of two days. After she had somewhat recuperated from her ordeal, she began to tell us what the demons had told her. Ever since her baptism that summer, she had heard voices in her head telling her that Jesus couldn’t forgive something she’d done, that she should stop reading her Bible and praying. She didn’t tell anyone about the voices. When she went home for Christmas break, she gave in to the voices and stopped reading her Bible and praying every day. As soon as she stopped, the demons took control of her, trying to kill her. She said that when we sang, she wanted to sing along, but whenever she opened her mouth to sing, the demons would speak instead. They wouldn’t let her pray, either.

Several times a day, we told Mary, “Come, let’s read the Bible together,” or “Mary, let’s go pray.” The first few days of her freedom, she joined us in worshipping the Lord, but after a couple days she began to say, “You go ahead without me. I’ll pray in a little bit,” or “I’ll read my Bible later.” “No, Mary,” we’d tell her, “you need to do it now. Don’t put it off! Remember what Jesus said about the devil coming back to the heart after he’s been thrown out? You need to spend time with Jesus right now, don’t put it off!” “I’m fine,” she’d insist, “the devil won’t bother me. I’ll spend time with Jesus – later.”

And so she put off communion with her Savior and Protector. Sure enough, just as Jesus said would happen, the demons came back. This time the attacks were worse than before. The first time around, Mary would only hurt one of us if we got in her way while she was trying to hurt herself. This time, she became violent towards her caretakers as well. One evening, she hid a knife in her waistband and tried to stab one of the staff. Finally, Mary made her decision to put her trust completely in Christ and to give her heart fully to Him. After a long struggle, during which the devil tried his hardest to stop her, she was able to pray a short prayer, giving Jesus her heart. Then she said loudly and clearly, “Satan, you can’t have me, for I belong to Jesus now!” With that, the demons left, and they haven’t bothered her since. Praise the Lord!

I learned a lot from Mary’s struggle. I gained a deeper appreciation for the hymns and Scripture songs. Still to this day, every time I sing a hymn that we sang with Mary, I hear again the sound of the devil screaming in fury, the sound of the vanquished foe. I learned the importance of spending time with Jesus each day, and of not putting off that precious appointment for anything! I saw firsthand part of the intensity of the great controversy that is being waged for each soul. I saw the power the devil has and that no human being can win the victory against Satan without help. But, praise God, I also saw firsthand how powerful our Savior is! While it’s true that no human can win against the devil, it’s even truer that the devil can never win in a fight with the King of heaven!

“He (Jesus) is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.” Heb. 7:25. “Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered? But thus saith the LORD, ‘Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.’” Isaiah 49:24, 25.