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.
