DEMfflWfiT

FAST AND
O PR EQ I
ninq and
Discerning
Overcoming Demonic Strongholds

Kurt E. Koch
DEMONOLOGY
EW AND
_£ni^Bn

Kurt E. Koch

KREGEL PUBLICATIONS
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49501
Demonology, Past and Present, by Kurt E.
Koch. © 1973 by Kurt E. Koch. Translated from the
German and published by Kregel Publications, a
division of Kregel, Inc., P. O. Box 2607, Grand
Rapids, MI 49501. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form

except for brief quotations in reviews without written
permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 72-93353

ISBN 0-8254-3013-5

6 7 8 9 Printing/Year 93 92 91 90

Printed in the United States ofAmerica

 CONTENTS

Preface....................................................................... vii
1. Christian Counseling and Occultism..................... 9
2. Demonology, Past and Present............................21
3. Mediumistic Powers, Natural Powers and
Spiritual Gifts........................................... 53
4. Occult Subjection, the Neglect Factor
in Mental Illnesses................................. 75
5. Miracles of Healing Today — Their Biblical,
Suggestive or Demonic Character . . . .103

6. Demon Possession and Deliverance.................. 131

 PREFACE

It was Dr. Fred Dickason of the Moody Bible Insti­

tute who first put the idea of this book into my
mind. He had invited me to speak at the Moody
Theological Lectureship in Chicago. After the meet­
ing, a number of students asked me if they could have
a copy of my message, and I willingly agreed to let
them duplicate the address. It was this, together with
the many similar requests that I have had all over the
world, which finally persuaded me that a book com­
prising of a set of addresses I have given on occultism
would be a worthwhile project.
I would therefore ask the reader to remember that
each chapter of this book is basically a unit in itself,
and that they were not originally designed to follow
one another as the chapters in a normal book. Inevita­
bly some of the ground will be covered more than
once, since the basic facts concerning demonology are
the same whether one is in Japan, Buenos Aires or
anywhere else in the world. In spite of the repetition,
however, the emphasis of the various addresses is
never the same. Moreover, the examples I have chosen
to illustrate the talks are different in each case.
There is an increasing chaos growing in the intellec­
tual and spiritual climate of our day. This is evi­
denced in many ways, a few of which I will quickly
mention:
1. In the natural sciences the importance of reason is
becoming overemphasized. Ratio mensura omnium
rerem — ratio is the measure of all.
2. An unquenchable thirst in the soul of man is
promoting an increase in all forms of mysticism,
spiritism and musical ecstasy.
3. Mankind’s sensual desires are promoting an in­
crease in sexual, alcoholic, and drug licentiousness.
4. An overemphasis of the irrational is producing a
growth in magic and other mediumistic practices.
5. The heightening of the spiritual need of our times
has led to the birth of the so-called charismatic
movement and other extreme religious tendencies.
6. The ‘pandemonium’ of our times is most terribly
evident in the Judas, Spiritistic and Satan Cults
which have recently sprung up in different parts of
the world. Anston LaVey, the self-appointed
devil’s pope from San Francisco, claims to have
some 200,000 followers throughout the world, all
of whom have subscribed themselves to the devil
with their own blood.
In order to face this chaos which is developing in the
world as the Second Coming of Christ draws nearer,
Christians are in need of three things: a firm ground­
ing in the Word of God; a fresh infilling of the Holy
Spirit; the gift of the discernment of spirits. It is only
in this way that we can hope to avoid being destroyed
in this witch’s cauldron. Probably what we should
desire more than anything else is an all-embracing
revival in which all the gifts and powers of the Holy
Spirit are seen to be present and alive in the Church
once more. But God is sovereign and we cannot force
him to act. It remains for us to do but one thing — to
pray!
Kurt E. Koch
 Chapter 1

CHRISTIAN COUNSELING AND OCCULTISM

(An Address given at a Ministers’ meeting in Cape

Town, South Africa.)

Summary

Neurosis And Occult Practices

I. Different Forms of Superstition
II. Fortune-telling and its Effects
III. Magic and.the Danger it Involves
IV. Spiritism and its Damage to Spiritual Life
V. Deliverance from Occult Bondage
 CHRISTIAN COUNSELING AND OCCULTISM
My work among the emotionally and psychically
disturbed stretches back now to something in the
region of forty years. During this time I have person­
ally counselled some 20,000 different people. All this
has made it clear to me that in cases of depression,
between 5% and 10% of sufferers have either had
contact with occultism themselves or have ancestors
who have dabbled in the same, and in cases of mental
illness the percentage is much higher; in Germany and
Switzerland 25% to 35%, and in England and Cali­
fornia between 40% and 50%. On the island of Bali,
local doctors estimate that the percentage is even
higher and they report that about 85% of those
suffering from psychiatric illnesses come from fami­
lies in which occultism is practiced.
In all this, however, we must be careful not to
deduce a simple law of cause and effect. Many de­
pressed and neurotic people have had no contact with
occultism at all, while many others only become in­
volved in spiritism etc. after they have become
emotionally or mentally disturbed. One can only
apply the term occult subjection or bondage to those
people whose mental or emotional problems stem
from the practice of magic or sorcery. The word
‘occult’ comes from the Latin word ‘occultus’ which
means: hidden, secret, sinister, dark or mysterious.
The term can be applied in general to extra-sensory
experiences and phenomena which parapsychology
12 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

makes the subject of its study. But it is not here that

my main interest lies. I am rather concerned in the
counselling aspect and I would prefer to define my
ministry as that of informing, warning and giving aid.
Occultism can be summarized under four differ­
ent headings.
I. Superstition.
Here are a few examples: In Japan the
number four is feared and avoided by many
people. Some hotels refuse to use the number. In
the same way some Japanese will refuse to accept
a telephone number if it contains several fours in
it. Why is this? The word four in Japanese is ‘shi’.
and ‘shi’ is also the word for death. Hence people
not wanting to be associated with death avoid the
number four. In Europe the number thirteen has
the same effect. When I was a student, the room I
was in was numbered 12a. When I asked the
bursar if he would change the number back to 13
— I told him I was not superstitious — he agreed
to have it altered. However, when the painter
arrived, he refused to change the number because
he maintained that he did not want to be respon­
sible for making the room unlucky. Thousands of
these unreasonable superstitious ideas exist all
over the world. To see a spider in the morning
ruins some people’s day; if a black cat walks
across the path of a hunter he must return home
straight away; to hear the cry of a bam owl is
meant to herald death; a four leaf clover or to see
a chimney sweep is supposed to bring a person
luck; so we could go on.
The Scriptures declare that we are not to give
 CHRISTIAN COUNSELING AND OCCULTISM 13

ear to signs and omens. Only those who abandon

their faith fall prey to superstition and unbelief
and succumb to the influence of ungodly powers.
II. Fortune-telling.
There are many types of fortune telling
abroad. Horoscopes, palmistry, the use of a rod
and pendulum, card laying, reading tea-leaves are
the names of but a few. Some fortune-tellers use a
crystal ball, others fall into a trance, but perhaps
the most dangerous type are those who hide
behind a religious facade. Acts 16 refers to a case
in point. The girl with the spirit of divination at
Phillippi followed Paul and his companions,
shouting: “These men are servants of the Most
High God.” This was, of course, true. But Paul
turned to her and said, “I command you in the
Name of Jesus to come out of her.” The young
girl was delivered.
People with the gift of discernment like Paul
are hard to find today. Many Christians, for
example, consider Jean Dixon to be a prophetess
simply because she attends the Catholic mass and
prays the 23rd Psalm, yet if Paul were alive today,
he would simply say to her, “Depart from me,
you have an unclean spirit.” Jean Dixon, far from
being a prophetess, is a dangerous fortune-teller
Soothsayer [N] [S] one who pretends
with a spirit of divination. to prognosticate future events.

What I am saying here is not just based upon

the opinion of one man, I can actually cite
emotional disturbances which have arisen as a
direct result of her fortune telling. An American
woman confessed to me that after she had visited
Jean Dixon she had entirely lost her desire to
14 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

pray. Whenever she had tried to read the Bible her

vision had become blurred, and at night she had
been haunted by apparitions. None of this had
occurred until after the meeting with Jean Dixon.
France, too, has its own dangerous fortune
teller. One of his methods is to study his visitor’s
eyes, a common practice among occultists. Let us
quickly add though, that such a practice can have
a legitimate basis too. This Frenchman, however,
on looking into the eyes of a young woman, told
her, “You are going to have five children, but you
will die after the birth of the fifth child.” No, this
was not a legitimate form of eye-diagnosis, it was
a case of pure fortune-telling. Later when the
fifth child was born, there was much concern in
the family. Finally the grandmother came to me
privately and said, “My daughter is going to die.”
I was angry that such a delusion and lack of faith
could exist. How can a fortune teller or an eye­
diagnostician know when a person is going to die?
This is God’s domain. Suffice it to say, however,
that neither the child nor the mother suffered any
ill effects. The Frenchman, far from being a
specialist, was merely a liar and a fraud whose
practice ought to be stopped. Such people are
specialists only at causing neuroses in their
clients. And this also applies to those newspaper
editors who allow horoscopes to be printed in
their pubheations. As it was said a long time ago,
they do not know what they are doing. It is only
the counsellor who realizes the effects as he deals
with those who come to him for help.
 CHRISTIAN COUNSELING AND OCCULTISM 15

III. Magic.
This form of occultism appears under many
guises. There is the magical infliction of disease,
magical healing, love and hate magic, magic perse­
cution, defense magic, and worst of all, death
magic.
Magical healing is the commonest form one
meets today. There are many magical healers,
fetish healers, psychometric healers, spiritistic
healers, magnetopathic healers and so on. I will
only be able to make a few comments on the
problem, but if you want a more detailed account
of the factors involved I would refer you to my
English and German books.
Many strange practices are connected with
healing magic. Christian Science healers make a
technical use of Bible verses in conjunction with
autosuggestion. This is a clear misuse of the words
of Scripture. Fetish healers accomplish their work
by means of fetishes or amulets. In Indonesia,
people are given stones which have been dedi­
cated to Satan. In the religious world, similar
practices are common. Relics, hoh/_water,"~
consecrated oil, blessed handkerchiefs or small
pictures of the saints are given to the ‘faithful’ to
heal them from disease. Psychometric healers ask
their patients to give them an object which they
then use as a contact-bridge. It might be some
hair, a piece of a fingernail, some article of cloth­
ing, or even some saliva on a piece of paper. These
are used by the healer to diagnose the disease and
to produce the healing influence on the patient. Is
this really possible, one is forced to ask? Besides
16 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

the great deal of deception and fraud practiced,

there is a form of healing and a form of health to
be obtained from genuine healers. But the cost is
great. The spiritual life of the person healed is put
into bondage, imprisoned, or even killed. Occult
healings really do exist, even demonic healings
can be substantiated, but the result is a bondage
of the soul to the forces of the devil. When
Satan heals a person of tuberculosis of the lungs
or of cancer, he afterwards presents his bill: the
eternal life of the soul.1
Magic has been used in all departments of life.
I will quote just one example of love magic. I was
told the story when visiting the Solomon Islands.
A girl had wanted to get married, but since she
was so ugly none of the men wanted to marry
her. She visited a magician and he gave her some
herbs which she mixed in the food of the man she
loved. The young man came under the power of
the spell and found himself compelled in an
inexplicable way to marry the girl. The love
potion was a success!
IV. Spiritism.
Leaving behind the realms of magic, we come
now to the area of ancestor-worship and spirit
and demon cults. Spiritism occurs in many forms:
table-lifting, glass-moving, the use of the puija-
board, automatic writing, trances, materialization,
astral travelling, psychokinesis, apports, levitation
and more.
x5* Among Christians there are many whosuffer
from a strange blindness to the dangers of these
practices. Many in fact hold that things like glass-
^See Chapter 5.
 CHRISTIAN COUNSELING AND OCCULTISM 17

moving and the ouija-board are harmless party

games. On the other hand, rationalists write all
these phenomena off as make-believe or fraud. If
this were really so, however, why is it that the
Bible so clearly warns us against practicing them?
The Old Testament declares that anyone who
does these things is an abomination to the Lord.
King Saul was actually destroyed following his
resorting to a medium for help. I know of pastors,
and even missionaries and evangelists who have
been similarly destroyed by spiritism. People who
Rave grown up in a family in which spiritism is
practised find themselves burdened by it. They
find belief an impossibility. They find they can­
not accept Jesus as Lord, and they cannot pray -
unless the Lord Himself steps in and delivers them
from the ban.
In England, I met an Anglican minister who
had, on one occasion, taken part in some table-
lifting. Afterwards he found that his spiritual life
became, as it were, dammed up; he began to
entertain strange and erroneous teachings in his
mind, and at a meeting at which I spoke he
attacked me publicly. Later, however, he could go
on no longer, and he called on me to ask for my
help. The Lord worked a great miracle in his life
and set him free. Afterwards, instead of opposing
my message, he asked me to take a series of
meetings at his Church.
I find myself duty-bound to warn people as
strongly as I can against spiritism. Our psychia­
trists are inundated by people who havejnherited
the effects of spiritism from their ancestors? But
18 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

.there is sgldormany help to be found. The reason is

clear, for the complaint is not organically or
psychically based but is rather spiritual. The root
is occult.
V. Deliverance.
To finish my talk without mentioning deliver­
ance would be worse than having never spoken at
all: So I say clearly: deliverance and help are at
hand. A person has come into this world whose
power exceeds all that of the devil and hell. His
Name is Jesus. As the New Testament declares:
“For this purpose the Son of God was mani­
fested, that He might destroy the works of~the
devil.” Satan cannot stand in the presence of the
Son of God.
Let me give an illustration of this. I once
spoke at a Bible School in Singapore. Afterwards,
one of the students rose to her feet and gave her
testimony. She had not been a Christian for very
long when one of her friends had asked her to
join in a game involving a ouija-board. The girl did
not know what the game was and so she went
along. When the group had started asking the
board questions nothing happened. The small
glass only trembled but did not move. Finally, the
spokesman for the group asked, “Is something
disturbing you?” “Yes,” came the immediate
reply. By now the young Christian had begun to
feel uneasy, and so she left the room. The three
remaining continued with their game. “What has
disturbed you?” they went on. “The girl who has
just left the room,” came the reply. “But why did
she worry you?” they asked. ‘“Because, witHTier -
 CHRISTIAN COUNSELING AND OCCULTISM 19

is God!” The position here is clear. The satanic

spirit whose power was behind the ouija-board
was unable to stand before the faith of the young
born-again girl.
American psychologists have maintained that
the force which makes the glass move is drawn 4
from the subconscious mindsTTf thepeople? This,
however, can be easily refuted. Through the\
ouija-board and glass-moving, events are predicted
and statements made which can in no wise be 1
attributed to the subconscious. And on top of"
this, the power at work is overcome through the
prayersofa Christian, rfliiscould be illustrated
time and time again. Therefore, whatever reasons
you , may try to give, never become involved in
experiments in this field. If you play with fire
you will get your fingers burnt! We must hold on
to the One who has received all power both in
heaven and on earth. Yes, Jesus Christ has
crushed the serpent’s head, and his followers have
the right to follow in their victor’s train.
 Chapter 2

DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

(An address given at the 4th Annual Theological Lec­

tureship at Moody Bible Institute on October 15th,
1971.)

Summary

I. The Definition of the Demonic

II. Demonism and Animism
III. Demonism and Hellenism
IV. Demonism in the Old Testament
V. Demonism in the New Testament
VI. Demonism in Church History
VII. Demonism in the Present Century
A. On the Theological Front
B. On the Psychiatric Front
C. On the Psychical Front
D. In Christian Counselling
VIII. The Christian’s Position
 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

I. Before we begin to talk about demons, we must

first explain the meaning of the word. This is
not as easy as it may seem. An example will
help illustrate what I mean.
During my missionary travels, I have on
several occasions come across the terrible custom
of eating the dead. The custom is most pro­
nounced among the Pacaas Novos, a tribe of,
Indians living on the border between Brazil and
Bolivia. Their existence was only discovered
some ten years ago. There are two types of
corpse eating: a ritual form and a common form.
The chief, the witch doctor and the elders of
the tribe participate in the ritual form. The rela­
tives and the kinsmen of the deceased take part
in the common or familiar form.
The meaning of the word ‘demon’ can be
traced back to this custom which has been
practiced among the heathen for thousands of
years. The word ‘demon’ contains the Greek root
‘dia’ or ‘daiomai’, meaning *to divide, to tear or to
portion out’. People who ate their dead were
therefore called ‘demons’ or ‘dividers’. One can
find this derivation of the word in the large
Kittel’s Greek dictionary.
Another facet of heathenism throws even
greater light on the origin of the word. The
24 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

cannibals of New Guinea actually call the souls

of the dead ‘demons’?
It is worth noting therefore, for those inter­
ested in the growth and development of religious
ideas, that the demonic is connected with eating
the dead and cannibalism both among primitive
tribes in both South America and East Africa.
We must look more closely at the term now
and see what further ideas underlie the word
‘demonic’.
II. Demonism and Animism.
In the Greek language, the word ‘demon’
has strong connections with the idea of animism.
Animism comes from the word ‘anima’-nieaning ,
‘soul’ or ‘life’, and is the doctrine that objects in
nature possess, or are possessed, by souls or
spirits, and it embraces the idea of pantheism as
well. These souls and spirits are those of the
dead, and they are regarded as immaterial and
intermediary beings. Such animistic concepts,
together with spiritism, still form the basis of
the ancestor-worship found in East Asia today.
The Japanese continue to pray to the spirits of
their ancestors and to offer sacrifices of food to
them, while spiritistic cults contact and address
the spirits of the dead.
The animist believes that these spirits are „
either good or evil in character and sacrifices are
made to placate those they regard as bad. In
spiritistic circles, too, this belief in good and evil
spirits persists. This has given rise to the various
forms of spiritism ranging from the criminal
macumba and voodoo cults, to the social and
 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT 25

religious spiritistic movements, as, for example,

the Umbanda and Kardec groups in Brazil.
III. Demonism and Hellenism.
The influence of animistic ideas about
demonology can be traced in Greek philosophy.
The popular belief that immaterial beings could
act as protecting spirits was gradually accepted
by the Greeks. As time passed, the efficacy and
various tasks of these spirits was gradually more
clearly defined, with the result that a heirarchy of
demons, arranged in various classes, came into
being. At the same time, the evil nature of the
demons became more and more pronounced,
and we find that Empedokles and Plato, and
later Plutarch all blamed the demons not only
for possession, but for disease and natural
catastrophes as well. Finally, among the Stoics,
the idea developed that the demons, magic and
mantic, were all inseparably linked.
A belief in ghosts was also associated with
the spirits of the dead. Pliny, in the middle of
the second century, described a haunted house
in Athens where a white figure used to appear
each night. Later excavation revealed that there
was a skeleton buried at the exact place where
the ghost used to appear. After it was removed
and buried in a proper fashion, the haunting
ceased.
There are many parallels, even today, to
this ancient story concerning apparitions of the
dead.
IV. Demonism in the Old Testament.
We now turn to the question of demonism
26 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

as we find it mentioned in the Old Testament.

But first of all, I must make it clear from what
standpoint we are approaching the problem. If
one fails to start from the correct point, one will
never find the key to understanding the Old
Testament. It was Archimedes who said, “Dos
moi po sten kei kina ten gan” — Give me a fixed
point and I will move the earth.
There are two ways of approaching the Old
Testament.
A. As a student I was able to listen to Martin
Dibelius, who, as a well-known member of
the school of form critics, looked upon the
Old and New Testaments as merely the
reflection of ancient mythology. This
theological school of thought maintains
that the Bible is founded upon oriental
folklore and myth. One can only hope to
reach the core of truth within it through a
process of demythologising. Even as a stu­
dent, however, I was unable to accept this
idea, and I soon came to the conclusion
that it was the theologians who needed
demythologising and not the Bible!
B. The second method of approach is to
accept the Bible as what it claims to be: the
inspired Word of God. In 2 Peter 1:21 we
read: “No prophecy ever came by the
impulse of man, but men moved by the
goly Spirit spoke from God.” Similarly inj^
Timothy 3:16 Paul writes: “Pasa graphe
theopneustos” — all Scripture is inspired of
God. It was on this foundation that Luther
DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT 27

stood when he declared: “The Holy Scrip­

tures are our sole authority in matters of
faith and conduct.”
The problem facing us is fundamental:
what, or who, is our authority? Do we assess
the Bible using myths as our guide or do we
use the Bible to judge the myths? What is
our position? Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians,
2:14: “The natural man does not receive,
the things of the Spirit of God, but the,
spiritual man judges and understands all
things.”
This gives us the fixed point we have
been looking for. The .Scriptures, inspired
as they are by the Holy Spirit, are the pivot
for which we seek.
It is absolutely essential that we
clarify our position, particularly when we
are dealing with the demonic, since theolo­
gians are inclined to make the most absurd
assertions when dogmatising about this
subject.
In the Old Testament we find a clear
distinction drawn between the angels of
God (Psalm 91, Daniel 9:21) and the fallen
angels (Genesis 5), both of which are
understood to be immaterial beings. The
new idea which comes out howeveigis that
there is no connection at all between good
and evil spirits. Unlike in animism and
Greek philosophy, the demons are unable
to play a double role. Moreover the so-
called spirits of the dead play only a very
minor part in the Old Testament „story.
28 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

They are mentioned in 1 Samuel 28 and in

Isaiah 8:19, but elsewhere communication
with the dead is bracketed together with
sorcery, and forbidden under the threat of
deatm (Deuteronomy 18:10-18).
I am sometimes asked when talking
about this subject, whether or not the old
man who appeared to Saul at Endor was
really Samuel. The answer is not all that
easy. Luther maintained that it could
hardly have been Samuel since this would
contradict the rest of Scripture. On the
other hand Jacob Spenyer, one of the
fathers of Pietism, maintained that it was
Samuel. Can one say which is right?
To try and understand the story one
must approach it from both the Biblical
and the counselling point of view. In the
story of Balaam and Balak, Balak wanted
Balaam to bring a curse on Israel. Although
Balaam at heart had no qualms about this,
God forbade him from doing so and made
him bless Israel instead. When Balak
rebuked him, he could only reply: “I cam
not resist God.” This gives us a clue as to
- what took place at Endor. When spiritistic
mediums call upon the dead the seance is
usually conducted calmly and without fuss.
In 1 Samuel 28 however, something drama-.
tic took' place which made the woman
acting as medium cry out in terror. ‘"Why
have you deceived me? You are Saul.” An
examination of the text reveals an excite­
ment which does not normally exist in a
 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT 29

spiritistic meeting. What had happened?

The answer is that God had taken the
matter out of the woman’s hands, just as he
had done so with Balaam, and he had sent
the real Samuel thereby bypassing the
incantations of the woman. In this way
Saul heard his own death sentence from the
mouth of Samuel himself.
V. Demonism in the New Testament.
The New Testament leads us still further in
our understanding of this problem. First of all
though, I will mention a few philological facts.
The noun ‘demon’ only occurs~bnce in the New
Testament, in Matthew 8:31. The adjective
‘demonic’ on the other hand occurs more than
50 times in the Gospels. Evil or unclean spirits
are mentioned 28 times, but there is no mention
of the spirits of" the dead. The angelsoFTlod
-(Matthew 25:31, Luke 12:8, 15:10, John 1:51)
and the angels of Satan (Matthew 25:41, 2
Corinthians 12:7, Revelation 12:7) are still
sharply contrasted as in the Old Testament, and
contactwith the powers of Satan through partic­
ipation in heathen rites and sorcery (1 Corin­
thians 10:20) equally warned against (Galatians
5:20, Revelation 9:21,18:23, 22:15).
The New Testament goes on to describe the
war which exists between the tgivitas[JDef and
the ‘civitas diaboli’ — the kingdorrTbi God and
the kingdom of Satan — a struggle in which man
is also involved. Ephesians 6:12 describes how
“we are not contending against flesh and blood,
but against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in
30 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

the heavenly places”, and in 1 Peter 5:8 we find

the words, “Your adversary the devil prowls-
around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may
devour.” Yet thanks be to God that “He gives us
the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (JL
Corinthians 15:57).
This introduces us to an entirely new con­
cept with regard to the question of the demonic.
Jesus entered human history and thereby made
an end to all the powers of the devil’ Colossians
2:15 reads: ^Christ disarmed the principalities
and powers — dunamais, thronoi, exousiai,
kuriotetes, archei — and made a public example
of them, triumphing over them in his cross.”
With the coming of the Lord, the age of
myths was over. As Peter testified (2 Peter
1:16): “We have not followed cleverly devised
myths . . . but were eyewitnesses of his
majesty.”
Yes, with the coming of the Lord, the
power of the demons was finished. Whenever
Jesus came face to face with the ranks of the
enemy they were forced to leave the field (Mark
5, Luke 8). At His word the power of the
demons was defeated.
VI. Demonism in Church History.
The problem of the demonic has always
been an acute one throughout the history of the
Church. It is sad, but true, to say that whenever
the Church of Christ has failed to give the Holy
Spirit his rightful place, the powers of darkness
have always filled the gap. The medieval cults of .
Satan and the black masses are but evidence of
this fact.
 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT 31

Another indication of the depths to which

the Church has fallen is seen in the Papal Bull
‘Yox in Rama’ in 1233 and that^ of Innocent
VIII in 1484. The infamous ‘Witches’ Hammer’
(Malleus Malifacarum) as conceived by the
Dominican monks, bears similar testimony to
the terriEIe^attitude which existed at that time
towards the demonic. This latter document"5*
alone was responsible forTIieaeaffii^mioi?
gjnds oi innocent people, anditwas not until
1869 that the last so-called heretic of the inquisi- j
tion was burnt at the stake in Madrid.
More recently, as the age" of enlightenment
dawned, belief in the demonic has declined
among people in the West, although it did not
disappear altogether.
VII. Demonism in the Present Century.
Over the last few decades the question of
the demonic has again raised its head, and in
some quarters the problem has become acute.

A. On the theological front liberal and neo-

rationalistic theologians continue to deny
the existence of not only Satan, but of the.
angels and demons as well. As they see it
the demonic is merely the reflection of
either the sub- or super-conscious within
man. It is therefore, rather an imminent
problem than a transcendental or meta­
physical one.
To such people the stories in the New
Testament concerning those who were
demon possessed, simply mean that Jesus
32 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

was a child of his own times, holding the

primitive concepts of those around him.
Possession is therefore, a form of mental
illness — at least, this is what they say.
The New Testament itself points out
the error of such an outlook. The Gospels
plearly differentiate between possession _
and pathological disturbances (Matthew,
4:24, Mark 1:32, Matthew 8:16).
Reports of possession are uncomfort­
able for our modem liberal scholars. They
do not quite fit into their rationalistic
scheme of the world. Bultmann, for
example, could do no more than describe
the story of the possessed Gadarene as a
‘terrible account’.

B. There is also conflict concerning the

demonic on the psychiatric front.

1. I was once invited by Dr. Martin Lloyd-

Jones to speak before a group of psychia­
trists in London. During the discussion
which followed my talk, two psychiatrists
stood up and stated quite dogmatically that
possession as such did not exist. Immedi­
ately after this, however, two other psychi­
atrists present — they were both Christians
— rose to their feet and said that they were
not only convinced that possession was a
genuine phenomenon, but that they had
already come across cases of it within their
own practice, one of them seven cases and
the other eleven.
 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT 33

2. In general, within the psychiatric world

anyone who talks as if demons really exist
is looked upon as being rather old-fash­
ioned or backward in his thinking. One
psychiatrist in Germany, in spite of claim­
ing to be a Christian, published an essay in
which he maintained that the possessed
Gadarene was merely suffering from a
severe case of hysteria. The reason the man
lived among the tombs, he said, was to
draw attention to himself. He had only
come to Jesus in order to be associated
with the famous healer he had heard about.
By becoming one of his disciples he
thought that he would become famous too.
This effort on behalf of a spicglled Chris­
tian psychiatrist to explain awaythe super-
natural by means of the natural is typical
of the attitude today. The apostle Paul is
quite clear concerning such speculation:
“Claiming to be wise, they have become
fools.”

3. About the most interesting discussion I

have had with a group of psychiatrists was
at the University of Freiburg. I had been
invited to speak on the subject of posses­
sion. Even before I arrived I knew that
there was sure to be a good deal of heated
discussion after my talk, but I willingly
accepted the invitation. As it happened,
after I had finished speaking, the Superin­
tendent of the University clinic introduced
q. patient to us, named Maria. She had been
34 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

sent to them by a Roman Catholic Bishop

who had described her as being possessed.
The professor remarked with some annoy-
ance in his tone, “How can a Bishop be so,
old-fashioned as to still believe in demon
possession in the twentieth century?”
The patient’s symptoms were de­
scribed to us, and the audience, consisting
as it did of doctors, psychologists, psychia-
trists and a few theologians, was asked for
its opinions. Let me briefly describe some
of what was said.
It was maintained that Maria would
somtimes cry out and scream, “I’m being
strangled by a snake.” Although no snake ,
was ever present, the marks of the ‘coils’
were clearly visible on her skin. At other
times she would suddenly change her voice
and men’s voices would speak out of her.
The professor told us that on being ques­
tioned the voices had rejplied, J‘We are
seven devils.” She would also act as if she
was being struck by an invisible force, and
the weals which had appeared on her body
at~ such times had actually been photo_-
graphed. Strangest of all, Maria had the
ability to predict the future. She was, in
fact, clairvoyant.
“What do you make of all this?” the
professor asked, turning to some Catholic
theologians present. Their reply was quite
definite and immediate, “It’s clearly a case
of possession.” “But you can’t say that,”
responded the professor angrily, “There’s
DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT 35

no such thing as possession!” Then he

addressed me with the same question.
“Before I answer,” I replied, “could you
tell me whether Maria ever dabbled in
magic or spiritism before her illness
began?” “Why yes,” he answered, “it is
recorded in her case history. But that has
nothing to do with my question.” “Oh yes
it has,” I went on. “Over the past 40 years
I have met with numerous examples just as
you have described, and I would say that
beyond any doubt Maria is demon pos­
sessed.”
- The professor, a psychiatrist, but not
a Christian, could not agree with me. The
only thing he was prepared to do was to
admit that he had never before met a case
as puzzling as Maria’s.

The influence of the demonic can be seen

on the psychical front. A whole host of
questions present themselves to us in this
realm. Why, for example, has there been
such a growth in recent years of sexual
laxity, drug addiction, racism, world com-
munism, occultism, spiritism, and theologi­
cal extremism? Why has so much chaos and
despair followed in its wake? We have only
time to touch on a few of the answers.

Firstly, due to the higher living standards

for which the West has now become re­
nowned, the over-saturated population is
being forced continually to seek satisfac­
36 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

tion from new stimulants for its insatiable

passions and desires.
2. Secondly, in the West people are becoming
perplexed and insecure. The world is be-
coming barren of new intellectual ideas, of
lasting ideals, and of men to lead it out of
the desert in which it finds itself. The re­
sultant insecurity leads directly to the
instability and escapism and intellectual
substitutes surrounding us today.
Then again, increased technological advance
has left a spiritual vacuum into which in­
numerable psychic forces have flooded.
One would be surprised if one knew just
how many of our so-called scientists and
intellectuals are turning to spiritism in
order to find some sort of spiritual relief.

4. But there are other reasons which are

weightier still. The present generation is
sick and bleeds from a thousand wounds.
At our psychiatric conferences, more and
more distressing facts are coming to light.
In Switzerland, for example, 4% of all
hospital beds are for the mentally de-
' pressed. In Germany the percentage is 10%,
in England 25%, while in America it has
reached the devastating level of 50%, The
world is becoming more neurotic every
day!
5. The statements of many of our leaders are
also very disquieting. We are living in a
 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT 37

climate very similar to that of ancient

Rome. Civilization seems to be marching
towards its own destruction, as books like
Gordon R. Taylor’s Doomsday book de­
scribes. At most, the world’s natural re-
*■fe sources can only last another 100 years.
* P
6. The clearest answer to the chaotic condi­ £
tions of our times is found in the Bible. We
are living in the Last Days. The final pages
of history are now being read. We see this ?
through passages like 1 Timothy 4:1 and 2 o
Timothy 3:1-4. This century can only be <->-
understood aright in the light of the A
prophetic word. Satan is mobilizing all his
forces for an all-out attack. The demonic
world has entered the final lap. It is these
facts that enable us to understand fully the
extremism which is appearing on every
sIc!e?Ty^ul therefore, to take our stand at
the foot of the cross, to fail to build our
house upon the Rock, is to be swept away
by the turmoil of the End-time. We are
living in days of a demonic nature!
Perhaps an example can help explain
what I mean. A few years ago I was con-
selling a possessed theological student. As I
was prayjn^or^nm, he suddenly feU into a
trance and we heard strange voices speaking
out of him in foreign languages. “Who are
you?” I asked the voices. They replied in
English, “We are 50 demons,” I went on,
‘Tn the'Name of "Jesus Christ I command
you to come out of him.” “Don’t mention
 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

that name,” the voices screamed, “we can­

w\

not bear it.” During the battle which fol­

lowed, tfie demonic voices cried out, “The
Lord is coming sgon with his holy angels.
Give us more time. We”wiIT"be finished,
s^u»iqj

when he conies.1,1
~ Do no‘t misunderstand me. We do not .
need the testimony of demons to know
that Jesus is coming soon. It is interesting,
Trj.’o

however, to note that what modem theolo­

gians deny, the demons testify todfe in fear, _
D. Another area in which the demonic is
making itself known is that of Christian
counselling.
For almost forty years now I have
been counselling people who have suffered
as a result of occultism, and in the thousands
of cases I have dealt with I have made two
significant discoveries.

1. Demonically oppressed people exhibit the

same ^symptoms today as did the possessed
Gadarene almost two thousandj/ears ago.
Demo n possession has therefore remained
the same in its effects since the time of
Christ, despite what the modernists would
try to say to the contrary.

2. The second discovery I have made is that

possession as well as not altering with time,
does not alter with place either. A pos­
sessed person in Haiti behaves in the same
■Wor further details see Chapter 5.
DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT 39

way as a possessed person in New Guinea.

There are, therefore, these two constants
connected with demon possession: the first
is that neither time, age nor epoch affects
the phenomenon, and the second is that
neither geographical, national, racial nor
cultural factors affect its outworking.
The question facing us is therefore,
what conclusions are we to draw from these
two observations? A psychologist might be
tempted to write the matter off by re­
ferring to the principle of archetypes. Yet
this term, as formulated by Professor C. G.
Jung fails to do justice to the phenomenon.
Possession in all its different facets fails to
fit into the normal psychological and
psychiatric pattern. Let it also be noted if
in passing that although the theories of
psychiatry and psychology change from
decade to decade,"the fact of possession.
remains unchanged. These two branches of
science are in fact indifferent to religious
values, unlike the possessed person who
reacts strongly whenever he is faced with
genuine spiritual counsel. This reaction,
caflecTthe phenomenon of resistance, is
illustrated in the following example.
I knew of one possessed woman who
could not even look at a Bible or crucifix
during the occasions of her attacks. It is
true that anti-religious complexes are
known to exist in the medical world —
these often result from an atheistic or an
over-religious upbringing — but in cases of
41 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

posesssion, the phenomenon of resistance is

so clearly defined that it is insufficient to
merely label it as just a complex.
For example, in Berne in Switzerland,
I once had to counsel another woman with
the marked characteristics of possession.
She told me that whenever she entered a
Christian home she always began to feel
sick. In the same way, if she was travelling
through an unfamiliar town after dark, shg,
would always begin to feel sick on passing a
church, even if at first unaware of its
presence. A feeling of loathing would also
come over her if a Christian got on the
same tram, and she did not have tore cog­
nize the person for this to take place. She
'Tvent on to describe that because of this she
could tell the difference between_nominal .
and genuine Christians, and thiswas partic-
ulariy^u^rTThe' caseof ministers! The*
' thought passed through my mind that some ,
ijnnistgrs^_conferences might benefit froma
I her presence in order that the sheep be dis^
tinguished from the goats!
-- In spite of all these strange symptoms
however, the woman’s intellectual powers
remained unimpaired. Her state of posses­
sion had in fact only been brought about
by her persistent practice of spiritism over
a good number of years.
The phenomenon of resistance is not
known among the mentally ill. In people
like the Gadarene demoniac on the other
hand, it is clearly visible. When he saw
DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT 41

Jesus he began to shout out, “What do you

want with me? I adjure you not to torment
me.” This is the~typical reaction of one
possessed. In the Roman Catholic Missal ar
one of the symptoms of possession is de­
scribed as an aversion towards the things of
God. Yes, even the Catholic Church is
aware of"thg^^act. Significantly too, Pre? * p
fessor Bender of Freiburg University, a o s
well-known parapsychologist, has also
acknowledged the existence of the
phenomenon of resistance, and in doing so
gives indirect affirmation to the reality of c tc
the demonic.
n
This aversion to the things of God is a
common symptom of possessed people all Vt C.
over the world. It is an indication there­
fore, of the meta-physical and meta-medi-
cal situation which exists here. Possession is
not primarily a disease of the mind. It is
rather the influence, and sometimes even
TlTefefore,~ the^problem facing us is to be
dealt with by the Christian worker rather
than by the psychiatrist."' 9
Of course one recognizes that there
are many mental illnesses which have no
connection~whatever with the demonic. In
fact one must be very careful indeed when P
one uses the word ‘demonic’ or the word
‘possession.’ There are far fewer people ft
«^7
who are demon possessed than some primi­
tive sects would have us believe. But con­
versely, there are far more people in the
44 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

ferred his magical powers to her. Ever

since that time she had been demonic­
ally oppressed and controlled.

c) Speaking in Foreign Languages.

The most vivid distinguishing
mark between a possessed person and
someone merely suffering from~‘a
mental illness, is the ability to speak
-in. a foreign language which the
oppressed person has never learned
before. I could quote quite a number
of examples of this, including not a
few of which I have had personal
experience.
A missionary who had been
working in Africa came back home to
Zurich in Switzerland on furlough.
One evening he was confronted by a
possessed person. While in a trance the
person had suddenly begun to speak
in an African dialect which the
missionary recognized as coming from
the area in which he had worked. In
his conscious state the possessed
person did not know even a single
word of the dialect in question.
In New Zealand a man became
acquainted with a spiritistic medium.
He took part in some table-lifting and
discovered that while in a trance the
medium was able to speak in a foreign
language. Later, the New Zealander
came to me for counselling. Since his
DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT 45

first contact with the medium, he had

begun to suffer from disturbances in
his spiritual life.
It is interesting to note in passing
that so-called speaking in tongues is
not only a gift of the Holy Spirit but
also a sign of demon possession. More­
over, there is also a psychological
form of tongues speaking.
d) Occult Transference.
Another problem connected with
possession is transference. It is true
that a form of transference exists in
the medical world of psychology and
psychiatry, whereby a doctor or nurse
who cares for the mentally sick can
fall prey to the same disorder. I know,
in fact, of two psychiatrists who as a
result of their work, committed
suicide. One was Professor Schneider
of Heidelberg University, and the
other a psychiatrist from Amsterdam.
Occult transference, however, is of an
entirely different nature. If mental
illness is transferred from one person
to another, the original patient is not
cured "ašT a result but continues to~
suffer from the disease. In possession,
on the other hand, if the ‘spiritual’
doctor or nurse has the ‘illness’ trans­
ferred to them, the originally pos­
sessed person goes free. Let me illus­
trate this.
In Germany, a late friend of mine,
 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

Fr. Heit muller, was recognized by all

to be a genuine man of God. One day
another Christian had asked him to
visit his demon possessed son.
Heitmuller agreed to go along, but he
took with him a teacher friend to­
gether with the teacher’s own son. For
several hours they prayed for the
possessed boy, commanding the
demons to leave in the Name of Jesus.
Finally, after a long battle the boy
was freed. But that was not all. That
same afternoon, as the first boy was
delivered, the teacher’s son who had
been present throughout the session
himself became possessed. How, one
might ask, could this have happened?
It later came to light that the boy who
was now possessed had not in fact
been a genuine Christian. Heitmuller
himself had not realized this before,
otherwise he would never have
allowed him to participate in the
counselling session. This type of
counselling should only be engaged in
by Christians who have really been
bom again, who are continuing to live
holy lives, and who place themselves
under the blood of Jesus for protec-
—tion.
i—
Instantaneous Deliverance. 3
Yet another clear distinction
3See Chapter 6
 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT 47

between mental illness and possession

is the instantaneous deliverance of the
possessed person, when he comes into
healing contact with Jesus. Psychia­
trists can struggle for years with
schizophrenics, paranoids and manic
depressives with little, if any, improve­
ment being observed. In the realm of
Christian counselling on the other
hand, sudden and continuous deliver­
ance can and does take place. With the
Gadarene demoniac it only required a
word from Jesus - “Come out” - and
the possessed man was free. And He
whom the Son of God makes free is
free indeed!
XIII.The Christian's Position.
Let us sum up what we have been saying
with a few general observations.
A. The question of the demonic covers a much
wider area than just possession. Pharisaism,
hypocrisy and pride, for example, can
cause a person to come under attackjirom
Satan’s forces as well. We have only chosen
to speak about possession in order to illus­
trate the more general problem of demonic
subjection, and this it aptly does. What
then, we may ask, should our attitude be
towards the demonic as a whole?
1. Some primitive Christian groups are prone
to read the demonic into almost everything
they cannot understand, organically-based
48 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

depressions and headaches included. How­

ever, the people who hold this attitude
have been the source of a great deal of
harm and confusion, and have brought
much misery into the lives of many they
have tried to counsel. One continually
needs to warn people to avoid hastily
labelling someone as being possessed.
Personally speaking, I would never tell a
person I thought he was possessed.

2. The opposite extreme of denying the exist­

ence of the demonic completely, is usually
based on either ignorance, arrogance or
both. There are many people of apparently
superior intelligence who accuse anyone
who believes in demonic possession of
having a medieval attitude. But as Paul
wrote: “Qod catches the wise by their own
craftiness.”

Between these two extremes one can take

one of many attitudes. Let us therefore
first listen to the words of the great
Lutheran Christian, Hermann Bezzel, who
said, “Mankind is demonized to the extent
that it believes the demons do not exist!”
Unfortunately today, many intellectuals,
following the current trends in scientific
and medical theory, believe possession to
be an out-dated concept. Not only do
modem theologians follow them in their
error, but sometimes believing Christians do
the same. I know for example, of the direc­
 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT 49

tor of a missionary society who dismissed

one of his missionaries simply because he
had tried to counsel a possessed man rather
than send him to a psychiatrist.

4. There are other Christians, however, who,

although they may believe in demons, still
maintain that because Jesus was victorious
on the cross we no longer need concern
ourselves about such matters. The subject
of the demonic is therefore banned from
their teaching, and as a result, young
preachers and missionaries coming from
such schools of thought are wholly unpre­
pared for the battle they meet on the field.
The conflict I have had with such people
who are often the leaders of our Bible
Schools and seminaries, is really dishearten­
ing. I have illustrated this many times in
my books.
The closer we come to the return of
our Lord, however, the harder the struggle
will become. Yet the victory will be the
Lord’s. No matter what forces and schemes
the devil may use, we must arm ourselves
with the triumphant theme of the last book
in the Bible. In the face of all the chaos
looming on the horizon, we can raise our
heads in confidence and cry, “Even so,
come Lord Jesus.”

5. There is another problem facing us today

which is especially prevalent in the United
States. It is that many Christians teach that
50 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

when one becomes a Christian all one’s

problems are solved. In answer to this idea.
I can only turn to the literally, thousands of
Christians who have come to me in coun­
selling sessions, who have carried—theix
occult subjection over with them into their
Christian lives. It is true that with a deep
conversion a person can be delivered from
all such oppressions of the devil, but this
does not often take place. This can be illus­
trated by a simple analogy. If a young man,
for example, contracts venereal disease be­
fore he becomes a Christian, although as a
result of turning to Christ his sins may be
forgiven, the effect of his sins will neverthe­
less almost certainly remain. So it is with
occultism. A person can quite easily carry
the effects of either his own or his
ancestors’ sins of sorcery over into his
Christian life,. And it is a person like this
who needs the counsel of an experienced
Christian worker. It is shocking to find in
our Bible Schools and training colleges that
hardly any time is devoted to preparing
- intending Christian workers for the prob­
lems they will surely meet in this field.
Yet happily, there still are and have
been a few men who are qualified to work
amongst the demonically oppressed. Dr. V.
Raymond Edman, the late chancellor of
Wheaton College,' clearly recognized the
problem and suggested that I hold a series
of lectures there to make the students
aware of the various problems involved.
DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT 51

However, he died before this suggestion

could be followed up. Do not misunder­
stand me. I am not looking for a job. I am
simply pointing out the serious .lack of
training which is given to our future minis­
ters and missionaries before they enter
their life’s work. It is like throwing a
person into the deep end before he has
learned to swim.
The need is growing every day
wherever the demonic is being fought.
Every Christian needs a suit of armor for
both counsel and defence. A training in
medicine and psychology can be very use­
ful, but more important is the qualification
of a converted life and a continuous state of
grow~fh~. Equally one must have the
authority of the Holy Spirit combined with
the gift of discernment before one thinks
of entering the fray. Maturity is also a
factor which should not be lacking. Young
Christians should hesitate before they enter
the arena. It is best to take the advice
and guidance of one’s elder brothers and
not rush in where angels fear to tread. In
my own work among those who need this
type of counsel, for many years now I have
never even attempted to put one step
forward without first ensuring that there
hias~~been a team of^Christ^ns^praying
behind me.
Our last word, though, is one of con­
fidence. The Lord himself has promised to
be with us and to protect us. Therefore we
52 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

can go forward in faith, following the One

who declared in Luke 10:19: “See, I have
given you the authority to tread on
serpents an^scorpions ancl "oveF^all the
power of the enemy, and nothing shall in
 Chapter 3

MEDIUMISTIC POWERS, NATURAL POWERS

AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS

(An address given at a Missionary Conference in

Sydney, Australia.)

Summary
I. Natural Powers
II. The Gifts of the Holy Spirit
III. Mediumistic Abilities
IV. Characteristics:
A. Natural Gifts at Birth
B. Spiritual Gifts and the New Birth
C. Mediumistic Powers
V. The Danger of Mediumistic Powers
A. The Argument of Scripture
B. The Argument of Origin
1. Inheritance
2. Transference
3. Occult Practices
C. Arguments from the Mission Field
D. The Experience of Christians
VI. Christians and Mediumistic Abilities
VII. The Source of Deliverance
 MEDIUMISTIC POWERS, NATURAL POWERS
AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS

Let us begin by trying to explain the concepts

before us, starting with the one which is least difficult
to define.
I. Natural Powers.
Without realizing it, we are surrounded by
various powers and forces immediately after we
enter this life. As young children we have to
learn to live at peace with the force of gravity,
with the laws which govern water, fire, wind and
electricity. At school we are led on to grasp the
rudiments of other physical and chemical forces.
We learn about the power within the atom, the
forces which hold the universe and the solar
system together, facts which we can behold but
which we are still a long way from really under­
standing. More recently we have heard of other
forces, the power of the laser for example. And
who knows, maybe it is this and not the power
of the atom which holds the key to future world
domination.
But this is only half the picture. What
about the power which enables a gifted sculptor
to see a finished statue of Christ within a rough
unhewn piece of stone? What of the power
which inspires a Beethoven, a Michelangelo or a
Leonardo da Vinci?
56 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

Yet all these forces and abilities lie within

the natural sphere. It is true that they can be put
to either good or ill effect, but fundamentally
they are neutral and natural in character. This
neutral characteristic, however, is conditional
and not absolute. It is forever overshadowed and
influenced by two other domains. Man is too
weak to maintain his neutrality in the face of
these transcendental powers. If we believe that
we are master of our gifts, then we are wrong.
We are already in the hands of another power far
greater than ourselves (1 Cor. 12; Rom. 12; Eph
2).
II. The Gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Turning to the concept of spiritual gifts we
find that the New Testament draws a clear line
between charismata and ordinary intellectual
gifts, even when the natural gifts are those of a
Goethe or an Einstein.
Spiritual gifts are in fact the gifts of the
Holy Spirit. They are therefore wholly unrelated
to human nature. They stem rather from the
divine nature, from the Holy of Holies itself.
They are characteristics of the Holy Spirit which
are not to be found in natural unregenerate man.
They come to us from above bv grace after the
rebirth, and far from being ours by right can
be taken back if God so chooses.
In 1 Corinthians 12 we find the following
gifts listed by the apostle Paul: wisdom, the
wisdom of the Holy Spirit and not human
wisdom; knowledge; faith; gifts of healing; the
working of miracles; prophecy; the discerning of
spirits; diverse kinds of tongues; the interpreta­
 MEDIUMISTIC POWERS, NATURAL POWERS 57
AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS
tion of tongues — nine gifts. Strangely enough
the greatest gift is not mentioned in this con­
text. In Romans 5:5, however, Paul describes
how that “the love of God is spread abroad in
our heart by the Holy Spirit”, and at the end of
1 Corinthians 12, although he writes that we
should covet the best gifts, he adds, “and yet I
show you a more excellent way .. .”
Having presented us with this challenge,
Paul then goes on to devote a whole chapter to
love, thus confirming that love is the highest of
all spiritual gifts as well as the chief of the fruits
of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5).

III. Mediumistic Abilities.

There is a lot of controversy surrounding
the idea of mediumistic abilities. Even amongst
Christian workers there is a good deal of dis­
unity and ignorance. I have met some ministers
and even evangelists who have either used a
pendulum or been treated by occult practi­
tioners for years without realizing that anything
was wrong.
Before explaining the exact character of
mediumistic abilities let me first describe how I
have collected the material on which I base my
opinion. For the past 40 years I have kept a file
of all those whose occult problems I have had to
deal with, both personally and through corre­
spondence, and whose experiences have
increased my insight on the subject. But as Paul
wrote, “We only know in part.” I am well aware
therefore of the limitation of my own knowl­
edge, and the corresponding responsibility on
58 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

my shoulders to give a correct assessment of

mediumistic forces.
First of all then let us explain what we
mean by ‘mediumistic’. The word is derived
from the Latin word ‘medium’. A medium is a
person who acts as a mediator, someone who
makes contact between two parties, between the
human level and other-worldly powers.
Mediumistic faculties themselves are not
the possession of everyone, nor are they under
the control of a person’s normal consciousness.
Just as we have given a list of spiritual gifts,
so we can give a list of mediumistic abilities. As
in the case of charismata, so with mediumistic
powers, we can name some ten to twenty differ­
ent types. Among others they include: clairvoy­
ance; ciairsentience; clairaudience; sensitivity to
the rod and pendulum telepathy, although traces
of natural telepathy also exist; trance states,
especially in spiritism; excursion of the soul,
practiced especially by the Rosicrucians;
mesmerism, although this too exists in a natural
form; mental suggestion in its occult form;
telekinesis or psychokinesis.
These mediumistic abilities can be divided
into two groups, one passive and the other
active: perception and influence. Parapsycholo­
gists speak of Psi-gamma and Psi-kappa
phenomena, ‘psi’ standing for extrasensory
phenomena, ‘gamma’ coming from the Greek
word ‘gignoskein’ meaning ‘to know’, and
‘kappa’ from the Greek word ‘kinein’, meaning
‘to move’. It is interesting to see the connection
here with the story of the temptation in Genesis
 MEDIUMISTIC POWERS, NATURAL POWERS 59
AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS
chapter 3: to be like God, having His power,
knowing good from evil. The whole range of
mediumistic abilities is concerned in fact with
knowledge and power.
IV. Characteristics.
The next question we must ask ourselves
concerns the characteristics of these powers. We
need spend no time, however, describing what
we have called natural powers. Suffice it to say
that these powers can either be placed at God’s
service or at the service of Satan.
The real question facing us is how we are to
differentiate between and assess mediumistic
abilities and spiritual gifts. We must approach
this problem one step at a time, seeing in each
case how the various gifts are received.
A. As we have already intimated, natural gifts
are present at birth, and have merely to be
developed during the process of growing
up.
B. Spiritual gifts, on the other hand, are given
to us after rebirth, when we are born again
of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes they are like
seedlings which need to be nurtured. For
example, Paul wrote to Timothy, his fellow
worker, “Do not neglect the gift you have,
which was given to you by prophecy, when
the elders laid their hands upon you” (1
Tim. 4:14). The spiritual father of these
gifts is the Holy Spirit. No follower of
Jesus has been left emptyhanded at his
spiritual rebirth. But the gifts often have to
60 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

be awakened. Nevertheless they are there,

so long as our spiritual life is genuine and
has been bom of the Spirit of God.
Some of God’s children believe that
they have no spiritual gifts. But to believe
this is almost to insult God himself. Why?
Let me give an example. If, on the reading
of his father’s will, the eldest son dis­
covered that he had been disinherited,
wouldn’t he be justified in criticizing his
father on this account? The same would be
true if our heavenly father disinherited us.
As disciples of Christ therefore, is it con­
ceivable that our Father has disinherited
us? Never. If the Holy Spirit has caused us
to be bom into the family of God then we
will not be bom emptyhanded. We must
count on these gifts and pray that the Holy
Spirit will reveal them to us in our lives.
We are not God’s step-children. He
has not disowned us. No, we are the heirs
of the richest Father in the universe.

C. But where do mediumistic gifts and abili­

ties come from? And what characterizes
them? Some theologians and parapsycholo­
gists claim that these abilities are neutral,
but with this I cannot agree. It is true that
there is possibly a small strip of neutral
telepathy apart from its occult form, and
the same may be the case for ciairsentience,
mesmerism and mental suggestion. As far as
I have observed, however, in thousands of
cases, mediumism is invariably of a
 MEDIUMISTIC POWERS, NATURAL POWERS 61
AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS
demonic character. The reason for this may
be that the devil always uses a natural dis­
position for mediumism as an open door
for his own influence, to create centers of
demonic power in numerous people’s
lives. And I do not say this lightly, but base
my observations on the evidence of many
years’ study.
V. The Danger of Mediumistic Powers

A. The Bible consistently associates occultism

and sorcery with mediumistic abilities. We
can see this in Deuteronomy 18:10-12, and
in Leviticus 20:6, 20:27, for example. In
Acts 16 Paul also calls the mediumistic
power of the girl fortune-teller demonic. In
the light of this it is not right to regard
these abilities as a new field for scientific
research, and still less as the gifts of God.
B. Further evidence of their evil nature can be
seen in the way in which they originate.
This occurs in one of three ways: through
heredity, transference, or occult experi­
mentation.
1. Through investigating the background of
numerous families in which mediumistic
abilities are in evidence, I have discovered
that when someone has the ability to use a
pendulum or to practice mesmerism, one
can predict with almost absolute certainty
that he has had either a grandparent or a
great-grandparent who has practiced magic
62 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

charming. Magical charmers have descend­

ants in the third and fourth generation who
are mediumistically endowed. It is a fulfil­
ment of the second commandment: “I will
visit the iniquity of the fathers on the
children to the third and fourth generation
of those that hate me.”
It is true that such mediumistic abili­
ties are not a sin in themselves to the one
who inherits them, but they are a burden.
The Swiss Christian, Markus Hauser, who
carried such abilities himself, freely
admitted this.
Many times I have been told by Chris­
tians that when a person is converted he
loses any mediumistic abilities that he may
previously have had. This, however, is
simply not true, but we will deal with this
problem a little later.

2. Another way of receiving mediumistic abili­

ties is through occult transference. If some­
one with the ability to use a rod or pendu­
lum holds the hands of a person without the
ability, a transference can take place which
surprisingly is permanent. Transferred
powers, however, are never as strong as
inherited ones.

3. Thirdly, mediumism can be caused by a

person taking an active part in occultism.
Curiosity can lead a person to read occult
literature and to experiment on his own.
MEDIUMISTIC POWERS, NATURAL POWERS 63
AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS
During the course of such experimentation
mediumistic abilities can develop.
Again this illustrates quite clearly our
thesis that mediumistic powers come from
the nether world rather than from above.

C. Further evidence of the demonic nature of

mediumistic abilities is seen in their close
connection with the pagan rites of primi­
tive tribes. There is an ominous connection
between the mediumistic powers one finds
in Europe and the magical practices of
primitive tribes throughout the world. I can
quote two almost identical examples to
illustrate this.
Whilst in the Philippines I came
across the so-called Hilot, the magicians of
the islands. One of their chiefs, Datu by
name, had a special reputation. He could
make his hand become so hot that an egg
could be cooked upon it. When this man
became a Christian, however, he was in no
doubt that his abilities were of a demonic
nature.
And now the sequel from Germany. I
was holding a mission in the town of
Husum, in the north of Germany, when the
minister told me about a member of his
congregation who had what he called ‘a hot
hand’. He described too, how the man had
healed numerous people. The healer
attended the church’s men’s group, and the
minister felt that his gift had been given him
by God. Personally, I could not accept this,
64 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

especially as the whole district was riddled

with occult practices. Moreover the man
himself was not a genuine Christian. One of
the problems in Germany today is that
people think that they are Christians
merely because they attend one or two
church services per week.
No, the Hilot from the Philippines and
the healer from Germany were both in
possession of the same mediumistic power.
Let me quote another parallel to this.
In Hawaii the men who practice black
magic are called Kahunas. These people can
inflict a disease on another person, even
over a distance, by means of their medium­
istic abilities. In America and Europe in so-
called Christian countries similar things
take place. A woman came to me complain­
ing that since leaving the Christian Science
Movement she had been persecuted by the
negative use of mental suggestion. Let me
point out that it was Mary Baker Eddy her­
self who described this art in one of her
books. Talking about a process called mal­
practice, she described how it can be used
to either mentally or magically persecute
people one wants to attack.
Whether it is a Kahuna or a malprac-
ticing Christian Scientist, the power at
work is the same. The only difference is
that in Hawaii the power is clearly pagan,
while in the West it is dressed up with
Christian trimmings.
Another indication of the true nature
MEDIUMISTIC POWERS, NATURAL POWERS 65
AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS
of mediumistic powers is seen in the effects
these powers have on the mission field. The
people who most resist the Christian
message are almost invariably those possess­
ing mediumistic abilities. Added to this, if
these mediumistic people ever do come to
Christ, they recognize at once the true
nature of their former powers^It is only in
the so-called Christian world, that the
boundaries are blurred. This is sometimes
the result of a corresponding blurring of
what true faith really is. Often Christian
tradition is mistaken for Christiah^ ne7
Church membership is confused with dis­
cipleship. These are dangerous presupposi­
tions. People become regarded as Christians
merely if they are congenially disposed
towards the Church, even when they are
burdened by the strongest occult subjec­
tions.
Mediumistic powers act as a block to
one’s spiritual life. If one investigates the
life and work of any missionary who uses
the pendulum, for example, you will be
sure to find that it has in fact weakened his
ministry. Mediumistic powers paralyze spir­
itual power. I could not give only one but
hundreds of examples to illustrate this fact.

D. Lastly we turn to the actual experience of

believers concerning the nature of medium­
istic powers.
In Bietigheim, for example, there is a
well-known Christian diviner. Many people
66 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

give him money in return for the service he

offers. He told me, however, when I talked
with him, that when he has searched for
water he cannot pray properly for days.
During this time, if he wants to read the
Bible he gets spots before the eyes. If he
hears a person preaching the Word of God
he cannot concentrate at all, however hard
he tries.
Another example comes from
Freiburg. I was holding a series of meetings
there when I was suddenly taken ill. I went
and visited a doctor, but on seeing a
pendulum hanging up in his consulting
room I felt I had to leave immediately.
However, on this occasion the Lord gave
me the inner liberty to say to the doctor,
“You can use your pendulum on me if you
want to.” I had never allowed such a thing
before in all my life. Inwardly I was
praying that God would have his way in the
matter. If he wanted the pendulum to work
or if he wanted to stop it from working, I
would leave the matter in his hands The
pendulum did not react. The doctor tried it
in several places in the room. Still it would
not work. Finally he remarked, “Well,
you’re the first person it hasn’t worked
on.” It was then that I told him what I had
been asking God to do. The doctor reacted
with extreme honesty. “If that’s the case,”~
he said, “then I won’t use a pendulum any
more in my practice.” Later I discovered
that he had kept his promise. Let me say.
 MEDIUMISTIC POWERS, NATURAL POWERS (f5j)
AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS

though, before we go on, that nobody

should copy what I did in this circum-
stance, Unless God commissions us to act
in this way the results could well be fatal.
A Christian was having a house built
in Gebweiler in France. Because there was
no main water-supply to the house, his
brother sent for a water diviner without his
knowledge to help discover if there was a
natural source of water on his land. When
the Christian realized this, he knelt down
and prayed, “Lord, if this man’s power is
not from you then stop it working. If on
the other hand you’ve given him his ability
then let him be successful in looking for
water.” Having prayed he went out into the_
garden. To his surprise^Ke^wairgreeted by
swearing, followed by the words, “What’s
wrong with it? I found water here a mom­
ent ago, and now iCwoiFCwofk,” 1'Re
diviner’s power had been blocked. The
Christian’s prayer had been answered. >
A power which can be driven away by
prayer is not, a power or a gift of God.
Neither is it a harmless natural gift. No,
such forces are opposed to the work of
God and should be avoided at all costs.

VI. Christians and Mediumistic Abilities.

We come now to the most difficult prob­
lem of all. As we have seen in our investigation,
sometimes even believing Christians can possess
or be carriers of mediumistic abilities. But if, as I
have already indicated, mediumistic abilities are
68 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

the result of sins to do with sorcery, it seems to

be contrary to common sense that Christians
should be plagued by these faculties. Let us
therefore examine the problem further.
Let me tell you a story which underlines
the principles I feel are involved here. A young
man much addicted to alcohol was prone to
violence in his drunken state, often threatening
the people about him with his knife. One
evening another man took offence to his atti­
tude and, drawing a stiletto dagger, stabbed him
in the back. The young man was seriously
wounded and forced to remain in the hospital
for some months. Through the witness of a
Christian nurse on the ward, he was converted.
Immediately he was freed from his alcoholic
addiction and evil behaviour and he found for­
giveness of sins. Despite his new birth though,
his wounds remained, and he has had to carry
them with him ever since. Yes, it is true that we
are forgiven, but the injuries and damage done
by past sins often remain.
Let me quote another example. An
alcoholic has had his health destroyed through
drink. He is the father of several children. Then
he meets Christ and is freed from his sin and
from his former evil habits. But his children are
not freed from the consequences of their
father’s alcoholism and inherit the effects in
their own lives. Examples like these occur by the
thousands.
Now we can turn to the question of
mediumistic powers. It is true that in some cases
of conversion the depth of experience is so great
MEDIUMISTIC POWERS, NATURAL POWERS 69
AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS

that all the effects of the person’s former life of

sin and any inherited mediumistic abilities are
gone for ever. But there are also many conver­
sions in which in spite of the confessing person
receiving forgiveness of sins, his mediumistic
abilities remain, albeit sometimes unconsciously.
But one thing must immediately be stressed.
Any Christian who knows he is mediumistically
disposed and who asks the Lord to deliver him,
will be truly set free. God is no man’s debtor.
But many people do not know that they are
subjected in this way and that their spiritual
lives are burdened or obstructed. Some even
think that their mediumistic ability is a gift of
God. This is a dangerous mistake indeed.
The problem becomes even more alarming
when one realizes that the following series of
events often occurs. A man who was formerly a
spiritist is converted. He is forgiven and receives
eternal life, but his mediumistic abilities remain.
Now as a Christian he draws on these abilities
and lays hands on people and prays for people,
not realising that his laying on of hands is ex­
tremely dangerous for those on whom it is per­
formed.
A Christian should never use mediumistic
abilities in the service of the Lord. He should
pray rather that the Lord remove them and re­
place them with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. To
argue that they can now be used for good ends
because the person has become a Christian is
false. The Holy Spirit never joins himself to that
which has been won from the realms of
occultism and sorcery. This is clear from the
70 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

story of the girl in Acts 16. Mediumistic forces,

no matter how they may be dressed with Chris­
tian trimmings, are of the devil and not of God.
As a last resort someone might ask, as
many missionaries have indeed done so, “If we
find ourselves in a drought, for example, and
need water urgently, would it still be wrong to
call in the help of a diviner?” What can one say
to this objection?
There are three permissible ways of search­
ing for water. One can try drilling; one can use
scientific instruments like the protone resonance
magnetometer — but both these methods are
rather expensive; or the Christian can use prayer.
Indeed far from being the last resort, he should
pray before he tries anything else. Did not Jesus
teach us to pray for ‘our daily bread’? If he can
give the children of Israel water in the wilder­
ness, or supply Hagar with a spring in the desert,
how much more can he give us the things we
need!
Like denying our faith, it would be better
to die of thirst than to resort to mediumistic
powers and the power of the devil in order to
remain alive.
Let me give you just one more example on
this subject. In the summer of 1971 I was pres­
ent at a ministers’ seminar at North Platte in
Nebraska. The seminar had been arranged by
Clifton McElheran and about 60 to 70 ministers
were present. We were engaged in a discussion
on the use of the divining rod when Mrs.
McElheran stood up and gave the following
wonderful testimony. I have her permission to
 MEDIUMISTIC POWERS, NATURAL POWERS 71
AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS
publish it for the sake of other Christian
workers.
Mrs. McElheran and her husband had
worked for the Sudan Interior Mission in Africa.
On many of the mission stations they learned
that there was a lack of water, and this in turn
led Mrs. McElheran to the discovery of her own
ability to divine. Many of the missionaries used
her services, but as time progressed she found
that her nervous system was becoming increas­
ingly burdened. This resulted in her returning
home six months earlier than had been planned.
She was so weak at the time that she had to be
confined to bed. The doctor was unable to dis­
cover the cause of her illness. Then one day a
friend of her husband brought her my book
‘Between Christ and Satan’. She read the first
chapter on the divining rod with interest. Her
eyes were immediately opened. Going out into
the garden with her own rod she found a place
where the rod was drawn down strongly in her
hands. She stopped, and then prayed, “Lord, if
this ability is not from you, then take it away.”
She took the rod and tried again. Nothing
happened. Her prayer had been answered. Break­
ing the rod in pieces she repented and asked God
to forgive her and to deliver her from the effects
of her sin. And God graciously did just that. Her
ability to divine has never returned.
Summing up, we repeat that as Christians
we can freely use the gifts which God decides to
give us as well as any help we can obtain from
the scientific world, but mediumistic forces and
abilities must be avoided at all costs seeing that
72 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

they originate from the sins of sorcery of either

ourselves or our ancestors.
VII. The Source of Deliverance.
The first and the last person to whom we as
Christians should turn for help is the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to the Lord
Jesus himself, and to the Holy Spirit whom He
has sent. Matthias Claudius put it this way:
We build castles in the sky,
Our hands at many things try,
yet we drift further from the goal.
It is strange how children of God try
almost everything before turning to God for all
that they need.
But now I want to give an example where
we can see the Holy Spirit’s gift of miracles
clearly and visibly at work. The incident took
place in Egypt. A simple peasant woman who
could neither read nor write became a Christian.
She began to attend the Egyptian Coptic
Church, but her one sorrow was that she was
unable to read the New Testament for herself. In
childlike faith she prayed unceasingly that God
would teach her how to read. One night she saw
in a vision a hand which gave her a red copy of
the New Testament. And in the vision she found
she could actually read its contents. A little
while after this her dream began to come true
and she was given a red New Testament just like
the one in the vision. She prayed after receiving
it and then bent over it to look at the words.
Suddenly her eyes began to understand the
meaning of the words she saw. Within a short
 MEDIUMISTIC POWERS, NATURAL POWERS 73
AND SPIRITUAL GIFTS
space of time she could read the book without
difficulty. But the miracle only applied to the
New Testament. She still could not read other
books or newspapers. To judge the story with
our rational minds would be to sit back, smile
and say, “Well it sounds very nice.” Some day
God is going to hold us responsible for and judge
us for the supercilious attitude we so often
adopt.
We have a God who can still work miracles
today. The Lord who fed the 5,000 with a hand­
ful of loaves and fishes is the Lord of the
twentieth century. He can help each and every
one of his children no matter how small the
offering they bring to him to bless. As David
sang:
“I will lift my eyes to the hills.
From whence does my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth!”
If we are willing to yield ourselves to Him
completely, to become broken, then we will be­
come partakers of the miracle-working power of
the Holy Spirit. To desire this power is not to
fall into the trap into which Adam fell. No, it is
to obey the voice of the Lord Who through His
written Word commands us to turn to Him and
accept His divine power through which we can
become partakers of the divine nature.
 Chapter 4

OCCULT SUBJECTION, THE NEGLECTED

FACTOR IN MENTAL ILLNESSES

(An address given at the Medical Centre in Seoul,

Korea.)

Summary

I . Introduction
II .Psychical Abnormalities
A. Medicine
B. Psychiatry
C. Psychotherapy
III. Oppressions with Unknown Causes
IV. Examples from Counselling Work
V. Parapsychology and Occultism
VI. The Effects of Occult Practices
VII. Our Commission
 OCCULT SUBJECTION, THE NEGLECTED
FACTOR IN MENTAL ILLNESSES

I. Introduction
To introduce the subject I will begin by
quoting an example. Let me first say though
that although most of the examples I will be
quoting will be cases involving the medical
profession, there will be no confessional or pro­
fessional confidences broken in the process.
The medical superintendent of two psychi­
atric institutions asked me to give a few lectures
to his staff. I agreed and was subsequently
drawn into some heated discussions with them. I
was introduced to a number of the patients at
the institutions, the superintendent commenting
that their symptoms failed to fit into the normal
framework of psychiatric illnesses. His statement
highlights one of the distinguishing marks of
occult subjection in fact, for it is very difficult
to square its symptoms with those of normal
mental ilnesses. Anyway, continuing with our
example, one of the patients who was intro­
duced to me was a former doctor who had been
admitted to the asylum a number of years
before. It was one of his better days and he was
able to talk to me freely. His wife is a Christian
78 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

and his father an almost world-famous doctor.

The superintendent haid already informed me
that they did not really know what was wrong
with the man, in spite of having had him under
observation for a considerable time. However,
during my conversation with him I was able to
obtain some clues which psychiatrists had either
overlooked or regarded as seemingly unimpor­
tant factors. The doctor had had a secretary who
had been a practicing medium. When he had dis­
covered this, he had shown an interest in her
spare-time ‘occupation’ and had begun to make
her the subject of some experiments. It was
during this time that his depressions and other
mental disturbances first appeared. The more he
had become involved in these spiritistic experi­
ments, the more his condition had deteriorated.
It was as a result of this that he was finally
admitted to the mental institution. It was not
surprising to me that the psychiatrists had been
unable to help him. Whether or not he had a
genuine psychosis, it was absolutely clear from
my point of view that he was also occultly
oppressed. No one can enter and leave a
spiritistic laboratory unpunished. As Professor
Hauter of Strasbourg University said to his stu­
dents after he himself had participated in some
spiritistic seances, “No one comes out un­
plucked. Everybody has got to lose some
feathers!”
Well, so much for our first example. The
question we are therefore faced with is, can we
attempt to tackle cases of oppression such as
this with the tools of medical science?
 OCCULT SUBJECTION, THE NEGLECTED 79
FACTOR IN MENTAL ILLNESSES

II. Psychical Abnormalities.

When a patient with mental or psychical
abnormalities seeks our professional help, either
as a Christian counsellor or as a medical doctor,
we naturally try to diagnose his complaint
correctly and give him the therapy he needs. To
do this properly we need to take into considera­
tion all the auxiliary sciences which might apply
to his particular problem. In this respect there
are essentially three branches of science which
can supply us with tools designed to combat
and cure mental disorders. These are:
A. Medicine,
B. Psychiatry,
C. The Psychological sciences such as psycho­
therapy and depth-psychology.
It would be too much to go into each of these
fields in detail, so we must be content with just
a brief summary of what they involve.

A. Medicine.
The connection between the body and
the mind is being increasingly recognized
by doctors today. A number of organic
diseases are now known to have definite
psychical side-effects. Jaundice, for
example, is known to be able to cause
depression. Heart diseases, as for example
angina pectoris, myomalacia cordis
(myocardiopathy), myodegeneratio cordis
(myocardial degenerative disease) and
paroxysmal tachycardia, can all produce
disorders of the mind. A thyroid gland that
80 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

fails to function correctly can also bring on

depressions. A low calcium concentration
in the blood can produce visionary experi­
ences, and a low hormone concentration
can produce a severe depressive state.
Various poisons can similarly bring on
depressions. These facts are just a few
known to those who specialize in internal
medicine. One could go on to mention the
mental effect produced sometimes by
over-dieting. I know of the case of a certain
minister who committed suicide after
losing 36 pounds through a radical diet, in
spite of having no previous history of
mental depression. It seems quite likely
that his mental collapse was the direct
result of his loss of weight. It hardly needs
mentioning too, that many drug addicts
during the various stages of withdrawal pass
through states of severe mental distress.

B. Psychiatry.
In the field of psychiatry, German
psychiatrists recognize some five different
methods of treatment for mental disease.
These are: 1. The use of drugs which effect
the subconscious, including Megaphen,
Serpacil, Tofranil, Nardil, Neurocil and so
on; 2. Electric shock treatment (E.C.T.); 3.
Continuous sleep treatment; 4. Continuous
hydropathic treatment, a method which is
currently gaining ground in America; 5.
Life-cell injections. In America another
method called ‘group therapy’ has been
 OCCULT SUBJECTION, THE NEGLECTED 81
FACTOR IN MENTAL ILLNESSES
developed over the last few years. An
increasing number of psychiatrists are also
coming to the opinion that schizophrenia,
one of the commonest forms of mental ill­
ness, is caused through a change in the
chemistry of the brain, and experiments
have been conducted by doctors like Dr.
Hoffer and Dr. Osmond, to see if
schizophrenia can actually be cured by
using niacin. Indeed astonishing successes
have been obtained through the daily
administration of niacin to patients. There
is still some scepticism about this method,
however, amongst other doctors and
psychiatrists.
My main objection to these forms of
treatment, and I base this objection on
hundreds of personal observations, is that
many so-called schizophrenics are not
really suffering from schizophrenia at all,
but are suffering instead from some form
of occult or demonic oppression. I realize,
however, that many people will react
strongly to a statement like this.

C. Psychotherapy.
One of the subjects studied by the
psychological sciences is abnormal develop­
ments in a person’s character from early
childhood onwards. In Europe the young
science of psychotherapy or psycho­
pathology is closely connected with the
names of Freud, Adler and Jung. The
actual therapy suggested by those who
82 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

specialize in this field is psychoanalysis.

Dream interpretation by means of free
association, and narcotherapy are also used.
In America another method of treatment is
that known by the name of psychodrama.
This is advocated particularly where
exaggerated attitudes of antagonism or
defence exist. The patient is asked to act
the part, for instance, of a son who feels
embittered against his father, and then the
roles are changed, and the one acting the
son is asked to take the father’s part, and
vice versa. The aim is to help the patients
to a mutual understanding of one another’s
problems and thereby to heal the traumas
(wounds) of the subconscious from which
they are suffering.
So ends our extremely brief sketch of
the various medical and psychological
sciences which one must consider when
treating those who suffer either mentally,
or spiritually, or both.

III. Oppressions With Unknown Causes.

Having considered the methods used by the
medical world, we are still left with the ques­
tion, what is our approach to a person whose
illness or state of mind is not covered by the
above mentioned branches of science? Let me
just outline a few factors not normally dealt
with by these sciences as a whole.

A. A few years ago a book was published with

the provocative title “30 Years Among the
 OCCULT SUBJECTION, THE NEGLECTED 83
FACTOR IN MENTAL ILLNESSES

Dead”. The author was a Swedish psychia­

trist, and although I cannot agree with his
main thesis based as it is on spiritistic lines,
the book does in fact make one very impor­
tant point. The author writes that many
people who are regarded as mentally ill, are
in reality demon possessed. As I have said,
in spite of the man being a spiritist I must
agree with him here.

B. A second statement worth bearing in mind

comes from a Christian psychiatrist who
reported that about 60% of the patients at
the asylum where he worked were either
demonized or possessed, rather than
mentally ill!

C. Thirdly, I would refer you back to the

example I quoted at the beginning of my
talk. The superintendent of the two clinics
stated quite plainly that the patient’s
symptoms failed to agree with the known
pattern of mental disorders.

D. Fourthly, Dr. Lechler, who was the medical

superintendent of the largest clinic for
nervous diseases in Germany, not only be­
lieves in demonic subjection but even
differentiates between four degrees of
oppression; namely, occult subjection,
demonization, obsession, and finally,
possession.
Yet it is almost impossible to talk
about demons and possession in the terms
84 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

of medical science. We are therefore forced

to leave the scientific approach behind us
and move over into the world of meta­
physics. Let me state again then, that
occult subjection and possession are not so
much medical terms as spiritual/religious
terms. It is therefore the business of the
Christian worker rather than the psychia­
trist to overcome this source of suffering in
the world.
The difference between mental illness
and possession is most clearly seen by com­
paring their symptoms. I think that the
best way in which I can do this therefore, is
to quote a few examples.
In France a young minister rang up a
doctor and asked him to come quickly
because a young woman in his parish had
suddenly gone raving mad. The minister’s
modernist views prevented him from believ­
ing in Satan, or demons or anything like
possession and occult subjection. The
doctor on the other hand — I know him
well — was a real Christian. Following the
phone call he went to see the woman, and
on entering the house he prayed, as he
alway^did, that God would be with him
and show him how to deal with the patient.
He then gave her an injection to try and
calm her down. It had no effect. Half an
hour later therefore he gave her an in­
jection of morphine. But again it had
no effect. He repeated the dose four
times within the next two hours but the
OCCULT SUBJECTION, THE NEGLECTED 85
FACTOR IN MENTAL ILLNESSES

woman seemed to be as excited as she had

been when he arrived. Turning to the
minister the doctor finally said, “You
know, this isn’t mental illness. She’s demon
possessed! If she was suffering from a
mental disorder the sedative would have
taken effect by now. It’s only in cases of
possession that it has no effect.” The
doctor knew this from experience. He did
not make the statement lightly.
There is another type of example
which I have met several times personally.
When a person who is mentally ill sits in
front of me and I pray with him, there is
never any change in his behaviour. He
remains calm and composed throughout
the prayer. On the other hand, if the
person I am counselling is either demonized
or possessed, when I begin to pray with
him he reacts immediately with screams
and curses and blasphemous words. The
reaction is entirely different from those
who are only pathologically ill. And
possessed people always react in this way.
Whenever they come into contact with the
kingdom of God, be it through counselling
or spiritual care, the resistance is always the
same. Let it be noted that the reaction
occurs even if the possessed person is un~
aware that he is being prayed for, when for
example the people praying for him are in
another room. He will begin to rave and
fume just as if the people were present. The
86 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

forces at work may be invisible to us but

their effects can be clearly seen.
A second difference between occult
and mental oppression is to be found in
occult transference, although a form of
transference is also known to exist in the
medical and psychological world.
The simplest form of transference,
familiar to us all, is seen in a child’s urge to
imitate its elders. If, however, this urge
becomes excessive, or abnormal, it develops
into an imitation neurosis.
Sometimes transference is also found
in the psychoanalyst’s consulting room.
The patient can become personally
dependent upon the doctor during the
treatment, to such an extent that phases of
rebellion, love and hate may arise, which
have to be destroyed before any help can
be achieved.
In the occult world, however, the
form which transference takes is on a
different plane altogether. I can illustrate
this with an example. I know of a young
Christian who prayed a great deal for her
demonized girl friend. As a result, the
demonized girl was healed, but the first girl
became occultly subjected instead. But
what is the difference between the two
types of transference? With induced
insanity, the person who is mentally ill is
not cured, although his illness may be
transferred to a doctor, or nurse, who is
caring for him. In occult transference on
OCCULT SUBJECTION, THE NEGLECTED 87
FACTOR IN MENTAL ILLNESSES

the other hand, when transference takes

place, the subjected person is always
delivered, while the one who prays for him,
or counsels him, is subjected instead.
Numerous examples could be quoted in
support of this statement, but I will men­
tion only one.
A Christian worker opened his home
to some occultly oppressed people in order
to try and care for them and pray for them.
In the end, however, his own son became
demon possessed as a result of his contact
with one of the patients. The Christian was
forced to change his practice, and he
allowed no more oppressed or demonized
people to stay at his house. One can find
no counterpart to this phenomenon in
either medicine or psychology.
The greatest difference, however,
between psychosis (mental illness) and
occult subjection is the ability of 4
possessed person to speak in a foreign
language while in a state of trance. This is
not to be confused with genuine glossolalia, .
a gift of the Holy Spirit. It is rather a
demonic counterpart to speaking in
tongues. I know of both witch doctors and
spiritistic mediums who are able to speak in
foreign languages while in ecstasies or in a
trance. I can give you an example of this
from Australia. A missionary friend of
mine with whom I once worked, told me of
an incident he knew about where six tribal
witch doctors, following a long ceremoni­
88 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

ous procedure, finally began to speak in

foreign languages with voices not their
own.
If I had the time I could go on to
describe further characteristic differences
between psychoses and possession. The
conflict one meets with possessed people
involve realms which transcend rational
thought and understanding.
Let us not forget, however, that at the
moment we are not so much dealing with
the matter of proof, as presenting some of
the evidence and signs. One cannot make
God or the devil the subject of one’s exper­
iments. Their existence can only be illus­
trated by the effects they have on the
world, an effect which the Bible clearly
recognizes when it talks about the works of
God and the works of Satan.

IV. Examples from Counselling work.

The following are some examples I have
come across myself which I hope will give you a
clearer insight into the characteristics of occult
phenomena.
The first I will quote concerns a medical
doctor with a large practice who came to see me
on a number of occasions in order to receive
spiritual help and counsel. He gave me his per­
mission to publish his story as fully as I wished.
This doctor had been in the habit of using a
ouija-board to assist him in diagnosing the
diseases of his patients. The ouija-board consists
of a disc with the letters of the alphabet
 OCCULT SUBJECTION, THE NEGLECTED 89
FACTOR IN MENTAL ILLNESSES
written round its circumference and the num­
bers 1 to 10 forming a smaller concentric circle.
The instrument is widely used in Canada and
the United States as a party game. When the
doctor wished to know something about his
patients he would hold a pendulum over the
centre of the disc and then proceed to ask it
questions. In response to his questions the
pendulum would swing to and fro over the
letters and numbers making up the answer. He
had been so successful that the ouija-board had
told him almost everything he had wanted to
know. Apart from his medical work he could
also ascertain the times of departures of trains,
discover the name, age, address and profession
of a person whose photograph he laid on the
disc, and even at times predict future events like
the result of elections and so on. However, as
time went on the doctor became suspicious of
his ‘hobby’. He started to wonder what force lay
behind it all. When he finally came to see me he
confessed that while he had been using the
ouija-board he had developed a violent temper,
become addicted to both tobacco and alcohol,
started suffering from depressions and begun to
fear that he was going mad. Altogether I spent
four counselling sessions with him trying to help
him in his distress. In the end he relinquished his
ouija-board and the occult literature he had
collected, repented of his sin, and handed his life
over to Christ. A small prayer group was formed
at this time to pray for him, and this they con­
tinued to do over a period of months. In the end
he was completely freed from his former afflic­
90 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

tions and is today an ardent witness to the

dangers of the ouija-board and the pendulum, as
well as to the saving power of Christ.
I am well aware of the objection that many
in the medical profession may raise concerning
the confusion of the cause with the effect. When
one realizes, however, the numerous other
examples which can be quoted in support of
this, the objection can be overruled.
Another case involves a person suffering
from a pronounced compulsion neurosis. A
young woman, 28 years old, came to me to be
counselled. She had been undergoing psychiatric
and psychotherapeutic treatment for a number
of years but without avail. Her compulsion to
wash herself, to count things, and to eat, still
remained. She was in a terrible state. Her com­
pulsion to eat was so strong that she would con­
tinue stuffing food into her mouth until she was
sick, only to start all over again. When she
finished her story I asked her if she had had any
contact with spiritism. “Yes,” she replied, “both
my mother and my grandmother are very active
spiritists. They often took me along to spiritistic
meetings when I was a child.”
Many people, on hearing a case like this for
the first time, find it difficult to believe that
there is any relationship between occult prac­
tices and the development of a neurosis. Suffice
it to say, however, that in more than 50% of the
neurotic people I have dealt with, this relation­
ship has been present. Every psychiatrist knows
how long and often futile the treatment of a
neurosis can be. But why this? Because one of
 OCCULT SUBJECTION, THE NEGLECTED 91
FACTOR IN MENTAL ILLNESSES
the most frequent causes of the complaint is not
recognized by the medical profession. An in­
correct diagnosis leads to the wrong treatment.
A large proportion of neurotic people instead of
consulting a psychiatrist should go to a Christian
counsellor. But it would be wrong to generalize.
I do not claim to have found the excelsior stone.
Depressions and neuroses can occur in anything
up to twenty different forms, and occult subjec­
tion is the cause of only one of these. However,
among the millions of people suffering from
neurotic illness in the world today, there must
be hundreds of thousands who are suffering as a
result of some occult subjection. Because our
psychiatrists and psychologists continue to main­
tain that metaphysical influences simply do not
exist, every one of these people receives the
wrong therapy for his particular complaint.
Every form of disease can be explained on a
purely imminent basis, so the rationalist main­
tains, but in voicing this inhibition of his —
philosophically it would be called an ‘a priori’
definition — he reveals that he is in the po­
sition neither to recognize nor to treat those
depressions and neuroses which are caused by
occultism. Many specialists are therefore simply
of no use in this field, their university education
having closed their eyes to one of the factors
involved.
A few years ago at the Congress of Psychia­
trists and Psychotherapists in Vienna, an Ameri­
can psychiatrist declared, “We are still only at
the very beginning of our knowledge of the soul
or psyche of man. Surgery is still in a far more
92 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

advanced state than psychiatry.” Statements like

this help us to realize that there is still much
virgin land waiting to be discovered when it
comes to our knowledge of the workings of the
human mind. One wonders why, therefore, we
are not humble enough to admit this ignorance
more often. Such an attitude might open many
doors to future research. The mind and soul of
man is the most precious part of God’s creation.
Why then do we so often ignore our Creator
when it comes to the treatment of this most
hallowed part of man?

V. Parapsychology and Occultism.

Let us turn our attention now for a few
moments to the question of occultism itself. In
our universities, the branch of science engaged in
research into extrasensory phenomena is called
parapsychology.
Over the last four decades Chairs of Para­
psychology have been founded at various univer­
sities throughout the world. The first and most
well-known of these is the Chair of Research
into extrasensory phenomena, such as telepathy,
clairvoyance and precognition or extrasensory
perception (ESP), under Professor Rhine at
Duke University in America. This was founded
in 1934. At about the same time Professor
Tenhaeff started his institute at the University
of Utrecht in Holland, which was later raised to
the level of a professorial chair in 1953. In 1954,
Professor Bender began a similar work at
Freiburg University, and in 1960 the Russians
entered into the field when Professor Wassiliew
 OCCULT SUBJECTION, THE NEGLECTED 93
FACTOR IN MENTAL ILLNESSES
received the professorship of psychical telepathy
at the University of Leningrad. Ever practical,
the Russians commissioned him to do research
into the possibility of extrasensory influence
over a distance. 1964 saw the founding of a
similar parapsychological laboratory at the
University of Santiago in Chile under Professor
Onetto’s direction.
As Christians, what are we to make of this
new science? The answer to simple. Anyone who
orientates himself according to Christ and
accepts the Bible’s view of the world, will find it
almost impossible to become a parapsychologist.
Every parapsychologist I know is by the nature
of his work forced to take part in seances, and
to experiment with spiritistic mediums, whereas
the Bible explicitly forbids such a practice. In
doing so the scientist brings himself into contact
with the demonic (Lev. 20:27). One must
remember that even scientific research has
borders beyond which it should not be tempted
to reach. Einstein himself recognized this fact.
Shortly before his death it is said that he des­
troyed a mathematical formula he had dis­
covered which would have caused the world
more harm than even the hydrogen bomb.
Counselling has no part with the new
science of parapsychology, unless, and it does
happen, a worker in that field is convicted of his
sin and his debt to Christ, and turns to the
counsellor for help.
Counselling deals mainly with the more
common forms of occultism as they effect the
94 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

burdened and subjected person. There is time to

give only a brief outline of these forms.
Occultism is divided into sometimes two
and sometimes four different departments. In
the fourfold division, the easiest to understand,
the divisions are as follows: superstition; for­
tune-telling; magic; spiritism.
To take but one of these, superstition, one
can find literally thousands of types of supersti­
tion in the world. Its devastating effect can be
seen in the witch hunting of the Middle Ages. If
an old woman had a bent or crooked nose, this
was enough to mark her out as a witch and cause
her to be burned. But we deceive ourselves if we
think that with the enlightenment of science we
have risen above such horrors as this.
The following is a true story involving a
farm in North Germany. The farmer’s son
married a pretty girl of whom his mother was
jealous. Several months after the wedding a
number of the cows on the farm died. The
farmer’s wife began to accuse the young girl
saying that she had brought bad luck on the
stables. “She must be a witch,” she told her hus­
band and son. As a result of her accusations the
poor girl was frequently beaten and locked up in
a darkened room. She was left there without
food for days. Finally, however, the process of
torture was discovered and the neighbors in­
formed the police. As a result the family was
taken to court.
One could give thousands of examples illus­
trating the type and the effects of these four
forms of occultism, but space forbids. If anyone
 OCCULT SUBJECTION, THE NEGLECTED 95
FACTOR IN MENTAL ILLNESSES
wishes to pursue the subject further, I have dealt
more fully with the different areas of occultism
in my books ‘The Devil’s Alphabet’, ‘Between
Christ and Satan’, etc.
Those who divide occultism up into two
areas base their division on the two forms of
energy involved. In occultism one can differenti­
ate between a ‘causa recipiens’ and a ‘causa
mo vens’. What are these? Causa recipien is the
ability to use extrasensory powers to uncover
the secrets of the past, present and future. This
ability is called the ‘psi-gamma’ effect, from the
Greek word ‘gignoskein’, meaning ‘to know’. In
America the phenomenon is known as ESP.
Causa movens on the other hand is the
ability to influence people and objects^ through.
extrasensory forces, The so-called ^psi-kappa’
effect, from~theGr eek word ‘kinein’, meaning
‘to move’. In America this is called psycho­
kinesis. In Europe the-term telekinesis'is pre­
ferred.
Every form of extrasensory perception I
therefore belongs to the causa recipiens side of |
occultism and every form of extrasensory influ-1
ence to the causa movens side.
It is impossible to go into all the different
areas covered by occultism, but mention should
be made of at least one guise under which it
often appears, that is the religious guise. In
England this is manifested in the numerous
spiritualistic churches and healers who claim to
be~wofkmg iff the'name of God, yet who in fact
further the work of Satan. The Bible itself often
suffers the abuse T)'f being used and quoted in
96 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

magic spells and formulae. And many a person is

deceived by these religious accessories. The
effects of white magic are just as bad as those of
black magic, and a common effect indicates a
common cause.

VI. The Effects of Occult Practices.

From the point of view of both counselling
and treating people medically, it is important to
know the actual effects produced by occult
involvement. Over many years now I have been
able to build up the following picture of the
problem. The effects of occultism on a person
generally manifest themselves in five different
areas.

A. First of all the person’s faith as a Christian

is effected. Occultly subjected people find
it all but impossible to exercise faith. They
find it difficult to obtain a living relation­
ship with Christ and as a result often fall
victims to extreme sects and heresies.
Those suffering in this way are plagued
with doubts, find it impossible to concen­
trate either when reading the Bible or when
praying, and they are all too often immune
to the working of the Holy Spirit.

B. Next, I have found that the person’s

character can be greatly changed. Occult
subjection often manifests itself in the
form of a violent, temper, miserliness, a
domineering spirit, hardness, unsociable­
ness and so on. It can cause people to lose
 OCCULT SUBJECTION, THE NEGLECTED 97
FACTOR IN MENTAL ILLNESSES
their self restraint, and one finds that many
so-called compulsory criminals suffer from
this form of occult oppression. In the same
way notorious fire-raisers, alcoholics and
perverts are often people who have had
occult contacts in the past.

C. Next it reveals itself through the presence

of mental or psychical illnesses. It often
causes a person to suffer from depressions,
thoughts of suicide and neuroses, although,
let it be emphasized, these things in them­
selves do not prove the presence of the
demonic.

D. A fourth effect is to be seen in a change in

the mental health or state of the person
concerned. Mediumistic psychoses are, at
least in their symptoms, very similar to
genuine psychoses, and yet different
characteristics can be observed. Normally,
however, because of the inability of the
average psychiatrist to differentiate
between medical and mediumistic psy­
choses, those suffering from the latter com­
plaint often end up in psychiatric hospitals,
whereas in reality only the Christian coun­
sellor can help.

E. The last effect, and the most destructive, is

what one can call hereditable mediumism.
Involvement in magical practices and
sorcery can effect one’s children to the
third and fourth generations. It is a case of
98 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

the literal fulfilment of the second com­

mandment, “visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children to the third and
the fourth generation of those who hate
me.” Mediumistic subjection often appears
in people’s Eves without any apparent
cause, and it is not until later that the
person concerned discovers that his depres­
sions or hatred of God, and so on, is the
result of either his grandparents’ or great-
grandparents’ involvement in occultism.
When I pointed this out to Professor
^iebeck of Heidelberg University, he agreed
that this is often true. As I have already
intimated, I have seen this demonstrated
hundreds of times over the last 30 to 40
years.
It is high time that Christian medical
doctors took into account the effects that
occultism can have on their patients, for
only in this way will they be able to equip
themselves with the tools necessary to help
all those suffering from mental and
psychical diseases. One cannot expect this
of non-Christians in the medical profession,
for to such the Bible is a completely alien
book. And anyway, they are not under the
same obhgation as Christians to help the
occultly oppressed.

VII. Our Commission.

This brings us almost to an end of our dis­
cussion on the effects of occultism. There is
 OCCULT SUBJECTION, THE NEGLECTED 99
FACTOR IN MENTAL ILLNESSES

much more that could be said, but two

important points must suffice.

A. Firstly, it is our duty, particularly as

Christians, to come to grips and to study
this neglected area of psycho-hygiene. The
flood of mental diseases is growing every
day. Hundreds of thousands of people
are suffering oppression either directly or
indirectly as a result of occult influences.
The tools of medicine and psychology are
inadequate for the task of dealing with this
problem. Rationalism has blocked the door
to a true understanding of the nature of the
effect that the demonic can have upon
people.

B. Secondly, we must accept the solution

which the Bible offers with regards to the
question of occultism. Parapsychological
phenomena are often mentioned in the
pages of the Old and New Testaments
under the headings of divination, fortune­
telling, magic, necromancy, spiritism,
astrology, augury and the like. Quoting
Deuteronomy 18, verses 10 to 12 just as
one example, we read: “There shall not be
found among you any one who bums his
son or daughter as an offering, or any one
who practices divination, a soothsayer, or
an augur, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or a
medium, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
For whoever does these things is an
abomination to the Lord; and because of
100 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

these abominable practices the Lord your

God is driving them out before you.”
In the Old Testament, sorcery was
punishable by death. It was in fact con­
sidered to be a form of blasphemy. Yet the
Bible does not leave the matter there.
Under the New Covenant we find that
Christ has made an end to the powers of
darkness through His death on the cross. In
1 John 3:8 we read, “The reason the Son
.of God appeared was to destroy the works
of the devil.” And Paul confirms this in
Colossians 2:15, “Christ has disarmed the
principalities and powers and made a public
.example of them, triumphing over them in
{the cross.” Christ has brought all the
verminous powers of darkness into the
light, and has trampled the head of the
ancient serpent under his feet. The message
of Christians today, therefore, is one of
victory. The thing that concerns us is not
the power of occultism but rather the
power and authority of the One who over­
came all the forces of evil at Calvary.
Occultism is not a hobby in which
people may dabble. It is rather a problem
and task which faces every minister and
counsellor of Christ. It is the duty of the
disciples of the Lord Jesus to give aid to
those who have fallen prey to, and become
ensnared by, the powers of darkness,
whether through ignorance, through
curiosity, or with a knowledge of the con­
sequences involved. The only help and
OCCULT SUBJECTION, THE NEGLECTED 101
FACTOR IN MENTAL ILLNESSES
deliverance available is that which comes
through Christ. Without him we would not
be able to stand against the forces which
occultism conceals. It is with gratitude
therefore that we can conclude with the
words of Paul the apostle on our lips:
“Death is swallowed up in victory;
O death where is your victory?
O grave where is your sting?
Thanks be to God who gives us the vic­
tory through our Lord Jesus Christ!”
 Chapter 5

MIRACLES OF HEALING TODAY -

THEIR DIVINE, SUGGESTIVE OR DEMONIC
CHARACTER
(An address given at the Theological Department of
Waterloo University, Canada)

Summary

Introduction: Twentieth Century Healing Movements

I. Divine Healing.
A. The Charismatic Gift — 1 Corinthians 12:9
B. Laying on of Hands — James 5:14
C. Relying On God’s Promises — 1 Peter 3:12
II. Healing on the Human Level
A. Suggestion
B. Religious Suggestion
C. Autogenic Training
D. Mental Suggestion
E. Hypnosis
F. Neutral Magnetism
III. Demonic Healing
A. Black and White Magic
B. Spiritism and Spiritualism
C. Fetishes, Religious and Profane
D. Psychometry.
E. Occult Suggestion; Occult Hypnosis; Occult
Mental Suggestion; Occult Magnetism.
Resume7: The Gift of Discernment; Obedience; The
Real Issue.
 MIRACLES OF HEALING TODAY -
THEIR DIVINE, SUGGESTIVE OR DEMONIC
CHARACTER
Introduction
There are a number of well-known healing move­
ments and places of pilgrimage in the world today.
One of the most famous of these is Lourdes, in
France. Every miracle which is claimed to take place
there is investigated by a group of doctors. Another
place of pilgrimage is Fatima in Portugal, and
another, Maria Einsiedel in Switzerland.
One of the most famous, or perhaps infamous,
faith healers of this century was Padre Pio in'Ttaly. fie
bore the marks (stigmata) of the cross on his hands,
and each Friday these wounds would bleed. It was
said that when he celebrated the Eucharist, the wafer
would float from the plate to his mouth. Let me at
once add, to avoid any misunderstanding, that
stigmata are not a sign that God is at work. Stigmata
can be produced unconsciously through autosugges­
tion. Neither can the phenomenon of the Host be
considered as a miracle. It rather reminds me of
spiritistic telekinesis. George Roux is another well-
known healer from France. He is a retired post office
official who claims to be Christ. The most well-
known spiritual healer in England is Harry Edwards.
This man is the president of a spiritistic healing move­
ment with about 2,000 members.
One of the most successful healers in the United
106 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

States was Edgar Cayce, the so-called ‘sleeping

prophet’. He, too, is a spiritualistic healer like Harry
Edwards, spiritualism being the religious form of
spiritism.
At the moment we can only mention the differ­
ent kinds of healing movements. There is no space to
describe them fully.
In Pentecostal circles the name of the late
William Branham is often mentioned in connection
with healing. Other healers associated with Pente-
costalism are T. L. Osborne, Tommy Hicks, and A. A.
Allan who died under mysterious circumstance?, all
of whom have been hailed for their healing gifts. In
this connection one must also mention Oral Roberts,
who has many followers in both the UniteJ States
and Latin America.
Within the present-day charismatic movement
the name of Kathryn Kuhlman is also mentioned quite
often. I have read both her books and have personally
visited her healing meetings. This list, however, is far
from complete. One could almost fill a book with the
names of all the people alive today who claim to have
powers of healing. One of the most powerful healers I
have come across was a teacher on the island of
Timor in Indonesia. Unfortunately, as a result of
spiritual pride, God took away his gift.

I. Divine Healing.
As a good deal of confusion exists in the
field of healing, I will endeavour to give you a
brief summary of the problems involved. The
problem is, however, almost too large to deal
with satisfactorily in the time I have available.
Before anyone begins to talk about healing,
 MIRACLES OF HEALING TODAY 107

there is a far more important biblical theme one

must mention first. The spiritual welfare of a
person’s soul is much more important than the
healing of his body. The conversion and rebirth
of a man through the working of the Holy Spirit
has priority over the healing of disease. Sickness
or infirmity cannot keep a person out of the
Kingdom of Heaven, but without the forgiveness
of sins and the experience of rebirth we shall not
even see the Kingdom of God.
It is important for us not to distort the
problem of healing. God has given us the ability
to think and reason in order that we use it. It is
obviously not wrong to ask the Lord to heal us,
but it is also not wrong to turn to a doctor for
help. The help of a trained doctor is itself a
blessing from God.
Healing should also never be sensation­
alized. It should merely act as a signpost to
point us to the Giver of all good gifts, our
Heavenly Father. With the Scriptures in mind we
can mention three forms which healing unassoci­
ated with medicine can take:

A. The charismatic gift is mentioned in 1

Corinthians 12:9. The New Testament
mentions a total of twenty different gifts
of the Holy Spirit in the following pas­
sages: Romans 12:6-8, 1 Corinthians
12:7-11, 28, 29. Ephesians 4:11. These
gifts were all present in the primitive
Church in Jerusalem.
In the history of the Church through­
out the ages, however, there have been
108 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

periods of drought in which these spiritual

gifts have been lost sight of. Yet there have
always been individual Christians who have
had the courage to acknowledge their
existence and use them, as, for example,
Augustine, Hieronymus, Francis of Assisi,
and Bernhard of Clairvaux. Miracles of
healing have in fact been associated with
almost every man of God. In the present
century the gift of speaking in tongues has
been emphasized in a number of circles,
but not all so-called charismatic movements
have a genuine charismatic character.
Having tried to clear the ground a
little, let me say before we go on, that I am
a-fcm believer in the gifts of the Holy
Spirit- Yet the Giver of this spiritual equip­
ment is far more important than the gifts.
We must all guard against prejudice when
dealing with such spiritual problems as
these. Even as we rely upon God’s Son for
our understanding of the Father, so we will
remain sound in doctrine if we gain our
understanding and knowledge of the Person
of the Holy Spirit through Jesus as well.
In Acts 1:8 he said, “You will receive
power when the Holy Spirit comes upon
you, and you shall be my witnesses.” Our
task therefore is to be witnesses to the
Lord Jesus Christ through the power of the
Holy Spirit.
Having said what I feel is very
necessary to remember concerning this
problem, I will now mention one example
 MIRACLES OF HEALING TODAY 109

where a person was healed through her

faith in Christ.
A young married couple visited a
Christian worker who is a friend of mine.
The young woman had a brain tumor. The
doctor had told the husband, but not the
woman herself, that she was incurable and
would finally end up like a vegetable. The
young couple were members of my friend’s
congregation. In his presence they both
made an open confession of their sins. The
minister then prayed with them and called
on the Lord to heal the wife. Almost
immediately the women said that she felt
as if there had been a release of tension
within her head. A few weeks later, when
she went to the brain specialist for another
check up, it was discovered that the tumor
had completely disappeared. The Lord
Jesus had shown his power in this young
couple’s life.

B. It is rare today to find someone with a

genuine gift of healing. On the other hand,
the simple custom of prayer with the laying
on of hands is practiced by many mission­
aries and evangelists on the basis of Scrip­
ture verses James 5:14, and Mark 16:17, 18.
There are thousands of examples illustrat­
ing how even in the present age the Lord
Jesus honors the prayers of his children
under the laying on of hands. Sometimes
this practice is accompanied with the
110 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

anointing of the sick person with oil, again,

according to the Scriptures.
However, we must not forget that it is
sometimes right to refuse to lay hands on
someone, especially when the person con­
cerned is not ready to follow their Lord.
Unhappily there are many cases, too, which
illustrate how dangerous the laying on of
hands can be when administered by
occultly oppressed Christian workers.

C. Among Christians there are also a number

of cases of healing where God has, in his
grace, answered the simple prayers of his
people. Without any special gift of healing,
without the laying on of hands or anointing
with oil, God can step in and answer the
cries of his children. The promises of the
Bible lie before us to be claimed by faith,
yet this does not mean that we can ever
compel God to act in a certain way. God is
not our handmaid, who comes and goes at
every bid and call. Opr prayers and desires
jiave to be subjected to His will.
It is our duty to encourage every
believer in Christ to daily draw upon the
promises God has made in his Word. Think,
for example, of Jeremiah 33:3. The chil­
dren of God have direct access to the
Father’s throne. They have a ‘hot line’
which they will never find engaged. At
every second of the day we can reach the
ear and heart of God, no matter how feeble
our cry.
 MIRACLES OF HEALING TODAY 111

II. Healing on the Human Level.

Because of the time factor we can do little
more than give a list of the areas involved. The
types of healing we want to deal with in this
section are on the whole not dangerous, but
some of them, on account of their occult
parallels, may sometimes fall within the realm of
the demonic.

A. Even a simple suggestion can trigger off an

improvement in one’s physical health. A
kind word from the family doctor can
cheer the patient up and strengthen his
belief that he is going to get better. And it
is not only the doctor who can do this.
Close relatives can also be a source of great
strength to the ailing person.

B. Suggestion can also make its appearance on

the religious level, particularly among
groups of primitive Christians. For
example:
I once visited the meetings of a certain
faith healer. After he had finished preach­
ing he addressed himself to those in the
meeting who were sick or ill. I was able to
watch as he then laid hands on a young
man in a wheel chair and said, “In the
name of the Lord Jesus you are healed.
Stand up!” The paralyzed man, using all his
strength, raised himself up on the arms of
the wheel chair and stood trembling on
both legs. The faith healer cried at him,
“Come on now, take a few steps.” The man
112 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

started to force himself to walk forward a

little, but then collapsed. Being put back
into his wheel chair he was then wheeled
out of the hall. Next morning the young
man came to see me for counselling. “The
paralysis is worse than ever now,” he told
me, and went on,“How can this faith healer
play about so lightly with the name of
Jesus?” A few days later a member of the
local Pentecostal group went to see the
young man, and while he was talking to
him he said, “You would have been healed
now if you had really believed.”
One could quote hundreds of
examples like this, but the faith that is
talked of in James 5:14 is not just the faith
of the sick man, it includes the faith of the
elders as well.
Religious suggestion is not a form of
divine healing. The prime mover in a
genuine case of biblical healing is the living
God, whereas in a case of religious sugges­
tion the impulse comes from a religiously
orientated man. Biblical healings are deep
and lasting in their effects. Religious
suggestion is not. It is a sign of the terrible
spiritual chaos of our times that religious
suggestion is so often labelled as ‘divine
healing’ by Christians who should know
better.

C. Autogenic training originated in the Far

East, and is often associated with medita­
tion. The person chiefly responsible for its
 MIRACLES OF HEALING TODAY 113

introduction into Europe is Professor

Schultz of Berlin. Autogenic training is
based on an idea common to a number of
different philosophies. One can think of
the book by Norman Vincent Peale entitled
The Power of Positive Thinking., Then
there is the Christian Science movement
whose representatives talk of the ‘healing
idea’. In the same way, in the first stage of.
Yoga one finds exercises in concentration
and meditation designed to enable the
spirit to gain mastery over the body. All
these systems are founded upon the same
idea, or start at the same point, namely:
through self-control man must learn io
master himself.
Even though this starting point is
understandable from the human point of
view, I nevertheless strongly reject its appli­
cation in the spiritual or religious realm.
From the Christian point of view these
efforts to .obtain healing are nothing more
than an attempt at salvation by works.
One episode I remember is of interest
in connection with the area we have just
been talking about. A patient of Professor
Schultz told me in March 1972 that Pro­
fessor Schultz’s female assistant had once
used a pendulum during one of the sessions
he had had with her. We have here a fusion
between autogenic training and occult prac­
tices, but the fault is that of Professor
Schultz’s assistant rather than the professor
himself.
114 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

D. I have come across mental suggestion not

only in the field of telepathy but also
within Christian Science and other move­
ments.
As an example of this I can mention,
how two French doctors succeeded in in­
fluencing a 16-year-old girl, one over a dis­
tance of 8 km, and the other over a distance
of 16 km. One could also think of this as a
type of hypnosis. In the world of occultism
mental suggestion occurs in a much
stronger form than it does on the human
level.

E. Hypnotism is a highly controversial subject.

The famous psychologist, Dr. Paul Tournier
of Geneva in Switzerland rejects its use
entirely. He argues that hypnotism illegally
interferes with the subconscious mind and
the soul of man. On the other hand I have
met missionaries who have regarded
hypnotism as a means of obtaining healing.
I will quote an example concerning
the Head Doctor of the Cruz Blanca
Sanatorium, Esquil, Argentina.
One of the doctor’s patients was a
woman suffering from a pronounced com­
plex. She was convinced that her house was
full of spiders, in spite of the fact that
there were none there at all. Hypnotizing
her, the doctor told her that when she
regained consciousness the spiders would
be gone. The experiment was successful.
Yet from that time onwards the woman
 MIRACLES OF HEALING TODAY 115

began to develop a strong alcoholic addic­

tion, something she had never suffered
from before. The doctor told me that be­
cause this transference had taken place, he
now had reservations about using
hypnotism in his practice.
A similar example to this was told me
in the Swiss canton of Berne while I was
counselling a person there.
A Christian woman was hypnotized
by a doctor while she was suffering from a
gall-stone colic. The hypnosis was sur­
prisingly successful and the almost unbear­
able pain disappeared within minutes.
Afterwards, however, the woman began to
suffer from terrible outbursts of rage. For
example, she would sometimes throw the
crockery or the glasses at the wall in fury, a
thing she had never done or felt inclined to
do before. In this case the hypnosis had
triggered off a lack of self-control, and the
many similar examples I have come across
in my work have led me too to reject the
use of hypnosis as a means of therapy. But
each person is free to form his own conclu­
sions.

F. Natural magnetism. A number of well-

known missionaries in Europe are con­
vinced that while about 10% of all healing
magnetism is neutral or safe, the other 90%
is occultly based. In my own counselling
experience I have come across only a very
few cases of natural magnetism which has
116 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

no connection with occultism. And when it

is neutral, it is also very weak. Strong forms
of magnetism are only found in the
demonic area. A man who practiced healing
magnetism once came to me to be coun­
selled. He told me, “Natural magnetism
enables a person to treat only one or two
patients each day. Whoever has powers of
healing magnetism to treat more than two
people a day is plugged in to the under­
world.”
There are many people, particularly in
the Far East, who are able to cure or to
help people suffering from headaches,
rheumatism, and arthritis by making strok­
ing movements over them with their hands,
but whenever I have come across a person
who possesses this gift, I have always found
that either his parents, grandparents or
great-grandparents have dabbled in magic
or spiritism. For this reason, even in the
case of natural magnetism I am not alto­
gether happy with its use.

III. Demonic Healing.

The New Testament itself bears clear testi­
mony to the existence of demonic forms of
healing: Matthew 24:24, Mark 13:22, 2
Thessalonians 2:8, 9, Revelation 13:13; 16:14.
Demonic healings can be divided into two
different types, the profane form and the re­
ligious form, What this means is that the devil
has learned to play on everyone’s piano! The
godless he ensnares through profane miracles of
 MIRACLES OF HEALING TODAY 117

healings not connected with Christianity at all,

while Christians are seduced by miracles dressed
in a religious guise. There is a terrible error being
propagated in the world today whereby demonic
healings, because of the Christian facade behind
which they take place, are being claimed as
charismatic miracles. One minister wrote me a
furious letter claiming that his ability to use a
pendulum was a gift from God, and as such had
to be used for the benefit of mankind. It was
unthinkable for him to believe that mediumistic
healings are basically occult and not charismatic
in character.
Let me quote an example to help illustrate
the problem.
A woman who was a nominal Christian
allowed her child whose body was covered with
a skin infection to be treated by a magical
charmer. A spell was said over the child three
times in the name of the Trinity. The use of the
names of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit
was designed to give people the impression that
the treatment was biblical, which it most cer­
tainly was not. The little girl, however, was
healed. But that is not the end of the story.
Afterwards the mother started to have difficulty
in praying and reading her Bible. When she
listened to sermons in the church her mind
seemed unable to concentrate. Her daughter,
too, began to suffer from depressions as she
grew up, and the situation was sometimes so bad
that both mother and daughter thought of
committing suicide. Finally, on attending a
mission meeting they both stayed behind to talk
118 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

to the evangelist. Making a complete and open

confession of their sins, they handed their lives
over to Christ, and received the forgiveness
which he alone can offer. A few days later the
daughter’s old eczema returned. This time two
Christian brothers prayed for her healing, and
God answered their prayers. She was healed for
good.
The example can be summarized briefly in
the following way: illness - a magical cure - the
developments of emotional disturbances - genuine
conversion - recurrence of the old illness. Let us
look further into the pattern which has emerged.
The human mind or soul can psychologi­
cally be split into seven different levels (see
diagram), the lowest level being the organic
realm. It is here that all organic illnesses take
place. The next level is that of the organic
unconsciousness, the psycho-physical transfer­
station. Here organic impulses are transformed
into physical reactions, and vice versa. The
third level is the collective subconsciousness
where traces of mankind’s history are stored.
Next comes the family subconsciousness, and
then the individual subconsciousness where
traces of one’s childhood’s experiences are
stored. The sixth level is that of consciousness
itself, the level of conscious experience and
action. And lastly we have the superconscious­
ness, the realm of genius, the artist’s vision, and
intuition. This house of seven stories has an
elevator running from top to bottom. Organic
illness at the lowest level can give rise to
psychical reactions which in turn can affect the
 MIRACLES OF HEALING TODAY 119

subconscious and the conscious. In the same

way mental resolutions or emotional experiences
can trigger off downward impulses which are
finally transformed into organic reactions. But
to save boring you with a lot of psychological
argument, let me quote some more examples
which illustrate the principle quite clearly.

Psychoporganic Relationships.

Border of
Consciousness

TRAUMA

ENGRAMM
An “engram”
refers to the
enduring offline
physical and/or
chemical
changes that
were elicited by
learning and
Psychophysical
underlie the
newly formed
memory
Transfer-Station
associations.
“Engram cells”
are populations
of cells that
constitute
critical cellular
components of
a given
engram.
 120 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

In a disease of the liver, for example

icterus, initially the illness is confined to the
lowest level, i.e. the organic realm. As time goes
on, however, impulses are transferred from stage
to stage until the patient begins to feel moody,
a
phenomenon irritable, and perhaps even suffer from depres­
that nat.ly
accompanies sions. And so we see that the organic illness has
or follows
something. concomitant phenomena associated with it.
naturally
accompanying
To illustrate the reverse procedure let me
or associated. refer to one of my own experiences. Longe met
a student who was a master of Yoga. He was
able, for example, to produce stigmata on his
own hands merely by auto-suggestion. How did
he do this? He would begin to concentrate on
the palm of one of his hands. Gradually the
palm would turn red as the circulation increased.
Then the blood would start to come through the
pores of the skin, and so the stigma was pro­
duced. It was a case of transference from the
higher to the lower levels. The mental concentra­
tion caused a change to take place in the organic
realm.
When a transference takes place from the
upper levels to the lower levels, in psychological
terminology a ‘trauma’ is said to have taken
place. This word is actually a Greek word,
meaning ‘injury’. On the other hand a transfer
upwards from the lower levels is called an
‘engramm’, coming from the Greek word
‘engrapho’, meaning to ‘engrave’. Although a
great deal of research has been done in Germany
into the nature of traumas, the whole science of
psychotherapy being based upon this research,
little attention has been paid to the reverse pro­
 MIRACLES OF HEALING TODAY 121

cedure of engramms. In fact the work of one

pioneer in this field, Professor Weizaecker, has
been almost completely ignored.
For ourselves, what we can learn from this
psychological introduction is that demonic
healing always results in an engramm taking
place, i.e. a transference from the lower to the
upper levels. The original organic illness is
shifted higher into the psychical realm, with the
result that while the physical illness disappears,
new disorders appear in the mental and
emotional life of the person concerned, dis­
orders which are in fact far more difficult to
treat and cure. Magical healings are therefore not
really healings at all, but merely transferences
from the organic to the physical level.
So far so good, but in counselling work one
discovers that the problem is even more involved
than what we have just mentioned.
Firstly, one does not realize the force with
which these transfers are accompanied.
Secondly, the transfers cannot be reversed,
the wheel cannot be turned back, except
through the power of Christ.
And thirdly, these magical transfers act as a
blockage to a person’s spiritual life.
Because of this, a person who has experi­
enced a transference of this nature is in need of
authoritative Christian counselling, and experi­
ence shows that only those who are ready and
willing to hand their lives over to Christ com­
pletely, can experience deliverance.
The damage caused through magical healing
is immense, and since this damage occurs mainly
122 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

in the spiritual lives of the people who are

healed, one is forced to describe the power
behind it as demonic. This can be confirmed by
the following example.
A woman who was seriously ill lay in
hospital suffering from shingles and leg ulcers.
Her condition was so critical that the doctor
ordered a nurse to remain by her bedside for the
whole night. It was expected that she would die.
Sitting next to her, the night nurse heard the
patient begin to whisper, “Nurse, you can help
me. Nurse, you can help me.” The nurse felt
afraid, but the woman kept on, “Nurse, you can
help me.” In the end the nurse asked the sick
woman, “What do you want me to do? How can
I help you?” The woman began to get excited
and said to the nurse, “Put your hand on my
legs and make the sign of the cross over them
three times, then say the name of the Trinity
and repeat the verse I will tell you.” The night
nurse was now even more frightened, but at that
moment the doctor walked by the ward. Asking
him what she ought to do, the doctor replied,
“Oh, do what she asks you. It might even help
her. There’s no hope for herfrom the medical
point of view.” She returned to the bed.
Immediately the patient began to encourage her
again to begin the charming process. Finally the
nurse did what she asked, and made the sign of
the cross three times over her body, murmuring
the names of the Trinity and the spell she had
been told. The patient relaxed. She could rest.
The nurse, however, was suddenly overwhelmed
by a tremendous agitation and fear.
 MIRACLES OF HEALING TODAY 123

In the days that followed the medical staff

was astonished. The open ulcers on the woman’s
legs closed up almost at once, and within five
days all symptoms of her illness had completely
disappeared. The doctor who knew about the
charming kept the incident to himself.
Today, six years have passed since the
woman was healed, but the nurse who attended
her has never been at peace since. She cannot
pray. She cannot listen to the gospel without
feeling a sense of disgust. She often feels as if
sfae is in a daze,~~that she cannot concentrate
properly, and she now suffers from a number of
emotional disturbances. Because of her condi­
tion she came to see me in order to get some
help through counselling. In her own mind she
traces every one of the psychical and emotional
disturbances back to the night during which she
sat with the woman. Without realizing it she had
used white magic in order to heal the woman’s
complaint.
Having laid a foundation to enable us to
understand the problem more easily, we can
now make a list of the most frequest forms of
demonic healing.

A. Black magic is the most widespread profane

form of demonic healing in the world.
People who use black magic either promise
or subscribe the soul of the person who is
ill to the devil as payment for the healing
they receive. White magic, the religious
form of black magic, functions in a similar
way. The two examples we have quoted
124 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

already in this section illustrate this fact. In

white magic the name of God and Bible
. verses are often misused. The false prophet
who is yet to come will be a master in this
art. One of the signs of the terrible confu­
sion in the world today is the fact that
many ministers and pastors look on white
magic as a scriptural idea. It is a fulfilment of
the words of Paul in 2 Corinthians 11:14,
“Satan disguises himself as an angel of
light.”

B. Spiritistic healing also has its religious

form, namely spiritualistic healing. Both
Harry Edwards and Edgar Cayce are
examples of men who practice in this field.
Harry Edwards claims in fact that more
than a hundred Anglican ministers have
come to him for help. This is a sign of how
good the religious disguise can be. Edwards
goes on to say that he is only able to heal
when his „good spirits are present, a claim
which many faith healers have made in
recent years.

C. Where fetishes are involved, before healing

can take place an object with magical
powers is first of all required. In Africa and
East Asia the people prefer to use the claws
of a wild cat or the teeth of a beast of prey
as fetishes. These objects become sources
of healing power. The principle at work
goes back thousands of years, the people
believing for example that if they possess
 MIRACLES OF HEALING TODAY 125

the claws of an animal, they possess the

animal’s strength as well.
It is sad to say, but religious fetishes
have also existed since time immemorial.
The bronze snake which Moses lifted up in
the wilderness (Numbers 21) later became a
snare to the children of Israel, a symbol of
sorcery (2 Kings 18:4). The handkerchiefs
of the apostle (Acts 19:12), a sign of the
childlike faith of the early Church, later
became a superstitious symbol. The relics
kept by many churches are also often
nothing more than religious fetishes. How
many priests .can one think of that have
recommended people to carry some
religious medallion which has been.
specially blessed.

D. The term psychometry is unfortunately

used in different ways in the United States
and England. Lately it has become the
fashion to describe certain psychological
tests by this word. At the same time, how­
ever, it is used to describe an occult and
mediumistic ability which a number of
people possess. A person who practices
psychometry will ask his patient for some
object which he will use to diagnose the
disease and decide its therapy. The object
may be anything from a handerchief to a
pair of socks, or from a shirt to some
fingernail cuttings. One psychometrist I
know of in France even uses the saliva of
his patients. In this way the psychometrist
126 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

can use his mediumistic intuition to dis­

cover the actual nature of the disease which
he then endeavors to cure using occultly
based mental suggestion. Even graphology,
the study of handwriting, can be used as a
form of psychometry. An example: I know
an occult psychometrist in St. Gallen in
Switzerland who, when patients write to
him for help will concentrate on the hand­
writing of the letters he receives. By so
doing he can determine the nature of the
patient’s illness which he then tries to heal
by concentrating on the patient himself. A
person with a genuine psychometric ability
can in fact obtain almost anything he wants
to know from the handwriting of a patient.
The phenomenon is in fact closely related
to that of clairvoyance.
It was most revealing for me to dis­
cover that a well-known faith healer in
North America regarded a female
-Psychometrist in New York as someone
richly blessed by God because of her
ability. I heard the faith healer say this
with my own ears.

E. Religious suggestion, hypnosis, mental

,suggestions and magnetism have already
been mentioned under the heading ‘Healing
on the Human Level’. Each of these, how­
ever, has its occult counterpart. Regrettably
only a small percentage of these
. phenomena are neutral in character. The
demonic form is practiced far more fre­
 MIRACLES OF HEALING TODAY 127

quently. The healing ability of the

psychometrist in the example we have just
mentioned is closely associated with occult
mental suggestion. I can quote an example
of occult hypnosis to help us understand
the problem more clearly. It comes from a
Baptist minister in the United States who
gave me permission to publish the account.
In the autumn of 1971 I spoke at one,
of the services at his church. Afterwards,
while I was having lunch with him, the
minister told me the story of his
16-year-old son. When he had been at col­
lege, the son had taken part in one of the
school’s entertainment evenings. The high­
light of the evening came when a hypnotist
invited 25 of the students to come up onto
the stage and them hypnotized them. He
suggested to them that they were all taking
part in a horse race. With that the students
started moving about on their chairs as if
they were riding horses. When the act
ended, the hypnotist told the students to
come back out of their hypnotic states.
The minister’s son, however, remained in a
trance. The college president was extremely
worried. In the end they were forced to call
the hospital, and the boy was taken away
in an ambulance. The doctors attempted
again to bring him out of his hypnotic
state, but with no success. It was only after
five days had passed that his father was
finally notified as to what had happened.
Immediately he had his son transferred to
128 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

his own home. Together with his wife and

some friends they began to pray for the
boy. Yet even then the hypnotic effect was
not broken. In the end, when a few more
days had elapsed, the father felt con­
strained to command his son in the name
of Jesus. To his amazement, his son re­
sponded at once. The hypnotic effect was
broken.
I could quote many examples like this
involving so-called harmless hypnotists.
People must be warned of the dangers
involved in allowing their children to take
part in what they think are only harmless
hypnotic games.
The unfortunate thing is that occult
hypnosis is often used as a means of obtain­
ing healing. The apparent success of the
hypnosis, however, is accompanied without
fail with all sorts of mental and emotional
disturbances. As the previous example
shows, even qualified doctors are unable to
undo the damage done by occult forms of
hypnosis. The problem is not a medical
one, but rather a religious one. The en­
couraging thing in all this is, however, that
the name of Jesus shines through as being
stronger "than all the wiles and powers of
the devil.

Resume.

I. In spiritual matters any shift of emphasis is

dangerous. Salvation is always more important
 MIRACLES OF HEALING TODAY 129

than healing. The forgiveness of a person’s sins is

greater than physical health.
II. The confusion in the minds of people today is so
great that not only religious suggestion but even
spiritualism and white magic are regarded by
some to be sources of divine healing.
III. There , are many so-called faith healers and
spiritistic healers who use the name of Jesus in
their work, and yet who one day will be rejected
bv the Lord himself (Matthew 7:22).
IV. There are cases of healing today which have an
appearance of being divinely inspired and yet
which in reality are the devil’s own work.
V. . These demonic healings are only a ruse whereby
Satan, in exchange for organic help, ruins a
person’s soul.
VI. Demonic healings are not true forms of healing
but merely represent a shift of the problem from
the organic to the psychical realm. The person
who is healed is the victim of a terrible confi­
dence trick.
VII. The effects of these occult forms of healing can
often be seen for years in the spiritual and
mental life of the victim.
VIII. If a person is not delivered from these effects by
Jesus Christ, Satan will demand that the price be
paid even after death.
IX. Through Christ, however, this spiritual confi­
dence trick can be reversed. The Son of God
paid the price for us all on the cross.
X. In all the chaos surrounding divine healing,
Christians need the gift of discernment more
than anything else
XI. As the apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 14:1,
 130 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

we should desire the higher gifts, not to boast,

but for the edification of others.
XII. There is in the twentieth century a genuine
unfolding of the gifts of the Holy Spirit among
believers, those who have really been born of the
Spirit of .God.
XIII. /The Holy Spirit has not gone out of business
f merely because he does not fit into the concepts
\ of a number of modem theologians.
XIV. We have the same God today, the same Saviour,^
the self same Holy Spirit and the same promises
as the early Church in Jerusalem. His Glory
belongs to us as well as them (John 17:22).
XV. The Giver of the gifts is always more important
than the gifts themselves, as is our obedience to
him.
XVI. Healing is therefore not the burning issue in our
lives. The most important factor is our relation­
ship with the Holy Triune God:
the Father of mercies,
the crucified, risen and returning Lord, and
the Holy Spirit who intercedes for us with
groans which cannot be uttered (Romans
8:26).
 Chapter 6

DEMON POSSESSION AND THE

WAY OF DELIVERANCE

(Address given at the Theological Department of the

University of Buenos Aires, Argentina)

Summary

I. Medicine and Modern Theology.

II. Eight Marks of Demon Possession: The Case of
the Possessed Gadarene.
III. The Case of the Possessed Philippine Student.
IV. The Way of Deliverance
A. Jesus the Only Saviour
B. The Counsellor’s Spiritual Armour
C. Medically Ill or Occultly Oppressed?
D. Destruction of Fetishes, Idols and Occult
Books
E. Breaking Mediumistic Contacts
F. Confession
G. Forgiveness
H. Renunciation
I. Absolution
J. Loosing
K. Prayer Groups
L. Praying and Fasting
M. The Lord’s Protection
N. Commanding in the Name of Christ
132 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

O. Means of Grace
P. The Armour of God
Q. Realizing the Victory.
R. The Return of Evil Spirits
 DEMON POSSESSION AND THE
WAY OF DELIVERANCE
The New Testament often talks about demon
possessed people being healed by the power of Christ.
Today, however, in the medical and theolo_gical
worlds, there are very few who believe in the
existence of demon possession. Everything is .ex­
plained away in terms of psychical abnormalities. We
have no choice, therefore, but to begin our discussion
by considering this attitude adopted by so many
people in the world today.

I. Medicine and Modern Theology.

Thinking first of all of psychiatry, the
study of mental and nervous disorders, like all
branches of science it relies for its data on obser-.
vations which can be measured and tested in the
laboratory. It is therefore not good to expect
any branch of science to speak with authority
about the existence of either God, the devil, or
demons. This is beyond their scope. Thus when
the Christian worker confronts a demon pos­
sessed person out of whom foreign voices begin
to speak, the only way the psychiatrist or
psychologist can explain this is by resorting to
the idea of schizophrenia. Whether or not this at
times is the correct explanation is not our con­
cern at the moment. We are merely trying to
outline the fundamental problems in this area.
134 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

Psychotherapy is another branch of medi­

cal science which rejects the reality of posses­
sion. This particular field of research is a mere
70. years old4 and is closely associated with the
names of Freud, Adler and Jung. One need do
no more than briefly mention what these
pioneers of psychotherapy said.

A. Freud, for example, was of the opinion

that psychical abnormalities like hysteria
were the effect of some sexual frustration.
A human being who is sexually repressed or
who lacks normal sexual expression, can
become mentally unbalanced as a result of
the pressures this causes. Freud was
basically interested in the cause of mental
abnormalities.

B. Adler on the other hand was interested

more in the patient’s actual desires and
drives, and their effect on his mental
health. He was convinced that a hysterical
person only feigns illness in order to attain
his real desires. His point was that mental
disorders depend not so much on an innate
cause, as upon a desire for a certain effect
in the person concerned. The question he
always asked therefore was, what is the
patient actually trying to achieve?

C. Jung, who is perhaps the most illustrious of

the depth psychologists, tried to explain
everything in terms of inheritance. We are
influenced, he said, by our racial past and
 DEMON POSSESSION AND THE 135
WAY OF DELIVERANCE

the collective unconsciousness, and these

factors as they reside in the individual’s
unconscious mind determine his behavior
and thoughts. It is not so much we who
make the decisions as our heredity.
The problem of demon possession was
therefore not taken seriously by any of
these three men. It was simply explained
away as some form of mental blockage.
But this is not all. In spite of the
opinions of men of science like these, what
do modem theologians have to say on the
subject?
First of all I would like to say a few
words about a German theologian whose
ideas have captured the minds of many
people today. Professor Bultmann, in one
of his books entitled Kerygma and Myth
says these words, “The idea of Satan and
demons is finished. Finished is the theory
of the Virgin Birth. Finished is the question
of whether Jesus of Nazareth is God’s Son
or not. Finished is the teaching of substitu­
tionary atonement, the resurrection, and
the ascension. Finished is the belief in the
Second Coming. Finished are the miracles
and answers to prayer.” On reading such
words as this one might well ask, “Well,
what remains then of the Bible?” We have
no time at the moment to answer all the
problems a theology like this raises, and in
fact it is not even worth the time. Jesus is
either the Son of God or he is not. It is as
decisive as that. Let me therefore say just
 136 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

one thing. Bultmann maintains that the

teaching in the New Testament is derived
from the mythological concepts of the old
world, and that it therefore does not apply
to us today. This is the basic error of all his
criticism. It was in the incarnation of Christ
in fact that the mythology of the old world
was finally smashed. The Son of God broke
into the history of "mankind. The fact of
the crucifixion, the disciples’ testimony to
the resurrection, the growth of the early
Church, strike at the very heart of the
myths surrounding the ancient world. A
theology which denies the reality of these
events can therefore be rejected, together
with the arguments of the various medical
and psychological sciences, when it comes
to the question of demon possession and
the spiritual world.

II. Eight Marks of Demon Possession.

In Luke 8:26-33, 38, 39 we find the story
of the possessed Gadarene. If we examine the
account to discover if there are any character­
istics which are typical of possession, we find
eight marks or symptoms which distinguish
demon possession from mental and nervous
diseases.

A. The first fact we are faced with is that in

demon possession demons are actually
resident in the person concerned. Mark
describes them as evil spirits. The
phenomenon is the counterpart of the
 DEMON POSSESSION AND THE 137
WAY OF DELIVERANCE
indwelling of the Holy Spirit in a belieygL
I have often been asked what I think
evil spirits really are. Are they just
demons, or are they the souls of the dead
taking possession of the living, or are they
something else?
Wr&r)q __ The Bible does not give us the answer^
to these questions. We must therefore be -
|j careful when we approach the problem. 1

ttc c h U
The Scriptures seem to teach that the dead
are not free to roam where they will, but
’> I' “a are under God’s control. It is difficult
therefore to know what to make of the
__ voices which sometimes speak out of
possessed people purporting to be the
spirits of their ancestors.
In France, for example, I was faced

bceKs
/2,‘3o pripe with a possessed woman. The voices
)hich spoke out of her claimed to be the
^Rv~^rHiz. gipirits of her dead §randfather and gt'and~
CW
.. Sj.A" । mother who had both dabbled in sorcery.
One explanation which commends itself to,
in mmee isisjuiuu—ai—he-
,thaL-if.t me grandmother herself had.
vuv-x nvwv.x
■eb^j/^} fji been possessed, when she died,the evil
iq-L/* U’1™' spirit may gave, left her body and trans-
tq.^ ferred itself into one of her descendents?
claiming to be the grandmother’s spirit.
The demon would in this way be a lying
spirit trying to deceive us.
h w n s tH

B. The second sign of possession is the

unusual streiigthexhd>ited by the possessed
person. The Gadarene demoniac was able
cn

to break the ropes and chains which bound

138 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

him. When I was in the Philippines, the frail

young man I had to deal with who under
normal circumstances I would easily have
been able to contain, sometimes needed
nine grown men to hold him down when
the supernatural rage struck him.

C. The third sign is the visible conflict within

the possessed person. One meets a similar
phenomenon in psychiatry, where doctors
talk of split personalities or disintegration.
In the case of the Gadarene, on the one
hand we see him coming to Jesus apparently
for help, and on the other hand he
suddenly reacts in fear and begs him not to
torment him.

D. Next we have the phenomenon of resist­

ance, an opposition to the things of <^oc|.~
“What have you to do with me,” the
Gadarene cried out. This resistance is
exhibited by^ever^^erson^^ro^is^demo^
possessed. The student at Manila, whom I
will mention later, cried out every time I
addressed him in the name of Jesus, “Don’t
mention that name. I can’t stand it.’’

E. The fifth sign is clairvoyance. The y/

Gadarene knew who Jesus was immediately
as he saw him, although they had never met C/\,
A before. He recognized too, that Jesus had
the power to deliver him and to drive the
demons out. I have found in counselling
such people that they sometimes have the
 DEMON POSSESSION AND THE 139
WAY OF DELIVERANCE
ability even to name the sins of the people
present.
, One possessed woman I was dealing
Ise- M j with suddenly jumped up, seized the jacket
of a minister who was also present, and
screamed, “You hypocrite. Put your own
cvj life in order before you try to help others.”
«•3.0« No Christian should attempt to help a_
demon possessed person unless his own sins,
are completely forgiven vKt L5
’«A V-jf (a od .
F. The next mark of possession is the ability
of the person to speak with voices not his,
own. A possessed woman in Southern
Germany often used to speak with a man’s
voice during the time of her attacks. The
student from Manila spoke with several
voices including that of a woman. The
possessed Gadarene did the same.
'-i‘ It is not sufficient to explain this
phenomenon by describing it as a case of
schizophrenia, for in many instances the
voices actually use foreign languages which
the victim does not even know. This is in
fact one of the strongest arguments against
the explanations of modern science and
theology. No mentally ill or hysterical
person can suddenly start speaking in a
foreign language which he has never
learned.

G. The seventh mark or sign that a person is

demon possessed is the sudden deliverance
which is possible. Our psychiatrists know
140 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

full well how long and tedious the treat­

ment for a mentally deranged person can
be. Possessed people on the other hand can
be delivered almost instantaneously when
they come into contact with the Lord Jesus
Christ.

H. The last characteristic I intend to mention

is that of transference. When the Gadarene
demoniac was delivered, some 2,000 pigs
went berserk and rushed headlong into the
sea. Events like this don’t occur in medi­
cine. I could give several examples to illus­
trate what I mean, butjane, about a pastor
in Switzerland, must suffice.
The man in question grew up in a
family in which sorcery was practiced. His
father was an active spiritist and magician.
When however, an evangelist turned up in
the village and held a mission there, the
father and one of his sons who was
actually demon possessed were soundly
converted. Immediately after this happened
the pigs in a nearby pigsty started squealing,
and began to run around all over the place.
After a period of five hours, during which
time nothing could be done to calm them
down, the farmer had to shoot them all.
The converted son later entered a seminary
and became a pastor, tie gave me per-
mission to publish this story,
This brings us to an end of our brief
resume of the marks of possession as
exhibited by the possessed Gadarene. It may
 DEMON POSSESSION AND THE 141
WAY OF DELIVERANCE
be of interest_to one to realize that the
Catholic Church also recognizes the reality
of demon possession. In fact in the Missal
they mention four signs by which one can
recognize the presence of possession. These
are:
1- Knowledge of a language._pre_yiQUsly
unknown;
2. Knowledge of hidden or secret things;
3. Demonstration of superhuman
strength;
4. An aversion to the things of God.

III. The Case of a Possessed Philippine Student.

Before we go on to discuss the way a
person can be delivered from the power of evil
spirits, I would like to mention the case of a
young student I helped counsel in Manila in the
Philippines. &
I was on a lecture tour of the Far East
when I had the opportunity of visiting the Bible
School of Febias in Manila. While I was there,
one of the students, who was in fact a Christian, J
went to see Dr. Hufstetler, the director of the
school. He complained of a terrible headache
and of feeling sick, and he asked Dr. Hufstetler
to pray for him. While the director prayed, the.
student suddenly lost consciousness and began
to get into a fury. It took several men to hold
him down. By this time, I and a few others had
been called to help deal with him. In our
presence strange voices began to speak out of hjs
mouth. One of the teachers present therefore
addressed these voices, “In the name of the Lord -
 142 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

Jesus, tell us why you have possessed Pat,” (the

student’s name was Pat Tolosa). “Because he did
* V not surrender his life completely,” the voices
responded. “How many are you,” we went on.
“Fifty,” they replied again.
Let me point out an important fact. I have
been asked on a number of occasions whether or
not believers can be demon possessed. My usual
reply is, “Some theologians believe it’s impossi­
ble for the Holy Spirit and demons to reside in
the same body. Theoretically I agree with this,
but my counselling work has shown that genuine
Christians can become the victims of demon
possession. The only explanation seems to me
X
that such demon possession is a very extreme
form of temptation.” In Pat Tolosa’s case, he
■had been_a Christian for about a year, but the
key seemed to be that although he had con-
*e fessed his sins and received forgiveness and the
^4*.^ assurance of salvation, he had not yielded his life
t°P of this, his mother
* had been an active sorceress. These two facts
appeared to be the factor that had allowed him
to become possessed.
77.. This should be a warning to all of us. An
" uncommitted life is an open door for the devil’s
attacks. We can have our sins forgiven, and have
peace with God, but still be living a life which is
not fully surrendered to Christ.
We continued to counsel the boy. “In the
name of the Lord I command you to come out
of him,” I said. “No,” they replied- “we need
somebody to live in.” “In the name of the Lord
you have to go,” I repeated. “Then we will go
 DEMON POSSESSION AND THE 143
WAY OF DELIVERANCE

into the children of Dr. Hufstetler,” they

answered. Now it was Dr. Hufstetler’s turn to
speak. “You cannot enter my children. Go
instead to wherejesussendsj^om”
We contmue^T^^ommana them to go,
singing the hymn ‘There is power in the blood of-
the Lamb’ to give strength to our prayers.
Suddenly the student began to scream. His
whole body convulsed. Then he became quiet
for a few moments without gaining conscious­
ness. We prayed again, and as we did so a new
voice began to speak. “How many of you are
left,” I asked the voice. “Forty nine,” it replied,
An hour had already gone by. What could we
expect to happen next?
While all this had been going on, some of
the Christian teachers got together and began to
support us in prayer. More and more of the stu­
dents joined them, until towards the end two
groups were meeting simultaneously for prayer
and praise. We found, too, that no single person
was able to confront the demons for more than
a short period at a time, the effort being too .
strenuous. In fact, the whole session lasted from
8 o’clock Friday morning until half past three
the following Saturday morning, a total of
nineteen and a half hours.
In the process of all this, one of the
teachers commanded the voices, “In the name of
Jesus tell us your name.” “Rakrek,” the voice
replied. “Where do you come from?” the
teacher continued. “From Manchuria,” came the
reply. “In the name of Jesus tell us why you
have come to our school!” “You have a good
144 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

school. We have come to bring in modernism

and liberalism. You won’t be able to stop us.
They are our friends.” I thought at the time how
good it would have been if all the modern
theologians of the world could have been
present to hear these words.
When I heard that the voice had come from
Manchuria, I recited a Russian Bible verse which
I knew. Then came a surprise. The voice immedi­
ately began to speak in fluent Russian in suite of
the fact that Pat Tolosa was acquainted with only
English and his own Philippine dialect.
Again we commanded the demons to
depart in the name of the Lord, and again the
student shrieked and convulsed and became
quiet for a short while. “How many of you are
there now,” we asked. “Forty eight,” was the
reply. We realized that quite a battle lay ahead
of us. If one described all that took place it
would fill a book.
As the struggle proceeded, one of the
demons answered, “We have come to destroy
Pat.” Instantly the possessed boy tried to choke
himself. He had to be forcibly restrained, some­
times by six, and sometimes by up to nine men.
His strength was enormous. They went on, “Pat
betrayed the communists. Therefore we are
going to kill him.” Of course, npt^eyerything
they said was true, but their derisive laughter
gave^ie^^w^^wnenever they tried to mislead
us. “In the name of Jesus tell us the truth,” we
would say, and with that they were no longer
able to lie. The Russian demon told us that a
group of communists in Manila were planning to
 DEMON POSSESSION AND THE 145
WAY OF DELIVERANCE
do away with Pat. One of them, he said'-Was,
shadowing him already, waiting for a chance to
kill.
When we learned this, a psychiatrist who
was present notified the police. The School
Board did in fact call in both a Christian psychi­
atrist and a Christian psychologist to assist in the
struggle. Both of these men were fully convinced
that the boy was possessed and not ill.
In one of the phases of the battle the demons
even attacked me by name. “Why don’t you
leave us alone, Dr. Koch?” they asked. “Your
books have done us a lot of harm in Europe, and
now you come to the Philippines too.” It was an
encouragement to hear this, but a danger too,
for pride always comes before a fall.
As the demons were being cast out we
gradually became aware of the fact that they
came from all over the world, which explained
the different languages some of them spoke. It
also became apparent how they had received
their orders from Satan, orders which they had
to adhere to till the end.
Suddenly one of the voices said to me,
“With the strongest hypnosis of Sumatra go into
a trance.” Pat’s eyes seemed to flash at this
instance with a fiery look, but in the name of
Jesus I said, “I laugh at your hypnosis. The
blood of Christ protects me.” The demon began
to scream, “With the strongest black magic of
Egypt and the most powerful black magic of
Tibet I will kill you.” I repeated what I had said
before, “The blood of Christ protects me.” This
demon too was forced to leave.
146 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

Another voice claimed to come from

Holland and to have originated from an occult
circle there. Others cried out, and this was
significant, “The Lord is coming in glory with
his holy angels. Give us more time, give us more
time.” Every one of them was dominated by a
fear of the name and the coming of the Lord.
In the end, however, Pat was wonderfully
freed. After almost a day he regained conscious­
ness when the last demon finally left. At first he
began to cry and then he began to praise the
Lord. It was only later when we told him, that
he realized what had actually been taking place.
All the teachers and students present joined
together in repentance and prayer. We placed
ourselves afresh under the protection of the
blood of Christ, encouraging one another con­
tinually in prayer and song. It had been an
overwhelming experience.
Let us just recapitulate the most important
lessons of this unique counselling experience.

A. The boy had become possessed because he

had not surrenderedHmself Completely To*
Christ. Besides this there was a strong
occult oppression on his family because of
his mother’s sorcery.

B. The demons were pursuing aims given to

them by Satan himself.

C. The demons were able to tell us about

things we did not know from all over the
world.
 DEMON POSSESSION AND THE 147
WAY OF DELIVERANCE
D. The demons all respected and feared the
name of Jesus.

E. The demons were counting on the early

return of the Lord in His glory.

IV. The Way of Deliverance.

In the section which follows I have briefly
compiled everything I can find in the New Testa­
ment regarding the question of deliverance.
What has been proved in experience a thousand
times over is that occult subjection and demon
possession are spiritual concepts, which can only
be adequately dealt with through counselling
based on the Scriptures.
As we go through the following eighteen
points concerning counselling the occultly
oppressed, we must guard against merely think­
ing of them as a system, or method of approach.
In the work of God on earth, there are no blue­
prints. Every person is an individual in the sight
of God. Thus every counselling session unfolds
in its own individual way. The eighteen points
are only signposts to indicate the overall picture
of such work. They also form only a quick
sketch of the whole problem. If a person wants
more information he can turn to my book
‘Occult Bondage and Deliverance’, or to the
more scientific work ‘Christian Counselling and
Occultism’.
Concerning the counselling of demonically
oppressed people we can mention the following
points.
148 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

A. Jesus is the only one able to free people

from occuH' oppression. Psychiatrists,
psychologists and theologians at most are
only a poor substitute. Satan is a powerful
enemy. He has only been defeated once: at
the cross on Golgotha where the
archenemy was dethroned. If an oppressed
person is unwilling to come to Jesus he can
hold out no hope of being delivered. A
tragic example from France illustrates this
only too well.
A woman went to a Christian for help.
Her husband had several years previously
subscribed himself to the devil with his
own blood just as a joke. It was only after­
wards that he realized what a bondage and
liability he let himself in for. He wanted to
be freed. His wife was a Christian and had
prayed a great deal for him, but he was not
prepared to truly follow Christ. He wanted
someone to break the chain in which he
had become enmeshed, but he also wanted
to continue to be his own master. For this
reason he has till now been unable to get
free.
The apostle John said, “If the Son
makes you free, you will be free indeed”
(John 8:36). But it is only through the Son
that we can be freed.

B. Although we have said that Jesus is the sole

source of all help, he nevertheless often
makes use of a counsellor in the process.
When this is the case, it is absolutely
 DEMON POSSESSION AND THE 149
WAY OF DELIVERANCE
essential that the counsellor has the
spiritual armor necessary for the strenuous
task of dealing with the occultly oppressed.
This armor we can only list briefly.

1. If the counsellor is himself occultly sub­

jected, he can never hope to help others in
the same condition.
>
2. The counsellor must be sound in faith.
Modernists and extremists only do harm
when they engage in this work.

3. The counsellor must have experienced the

rebirth through the working ,of_the lloly
Spirit.

4. If possible the counsellor should have had

some medical training. A knowledge of
psychiatry, for "example, can often he of
help when endeavouring to diagnose what
is really wrong.
5. The counsellor should ,pray unceasingly for

6. A counsellor should if possible have a

number of years experience behind him. A
young man should exercise restraint in this
type of work, and call in older men to help.
7. Christians of a nervous disposition should
not attempt this type of work. Similarly,
erithusiastic young women should;' not
aTteTn'pt""tb counsel the demonically
150 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

oppressed. As Scriptures say, “Let not

many of you become teachers.” The
dangers involved in this form of counselling
can be illustrated by examples from three
of my friends.
In Germany the leader of a Christian
home who had studied both medicine and
theology invited me to hold some meetings
there. As a result of listening to my talks
and the reading my book Christian Coun­
selling and Occultism, he decided to enter
into the type of work I had described.
After a year, in which he had counselled a
number of people, he went out of his mind.
Shortly after this he died.
An evangelist who accompanied me
during some of my meetings in England felt
called to a similar work among the
occultly oppressed. However, it was more a
matter of the right method for him than a
case of spiritual authority. After two years
he gave up this special type of work, the
devil having caused a serious set back in his
life.
I travelled for a while in America with
an American evangelist. He was encouraged
through my lectures to start counselling
people suffering from oppressions. Two
years later his mind became confused and
he had to go into a clinic for nervous dis­
orders.
We should not allow these examples
to take our courage away. We should rather
use them to remind ourselves that the ques­
 DEMON POSSESSION AND THE 151
WAY OF DELIVERANCE
tion is not that of adopting the right
method of approach, but rather of having
the spiritual authority required for this
work. And if a person does not know how
to distinguish between the two he should
steer clear of this type of work.

C. Before counselling begins it is essential to

diagnose correctly between mental illness
and occult oppression. A person who is
mentally ill must be treated by a psychia­
trist. Naturally if possible one should seek
out a Christian psychiatrist rather than a
nominal Christian. The occultly oppressed
on the other hand should turn to a quali­
fied Christian worker for help. Failure to
make the correct diagnosis leads sometimes
to disastrous results. And it is not only
counsellors who make these mistakes, but
qualified psychiatrists as well.

D. The oppressed person must destroy any

fetishes, idols bFbccuIVlitefature he has in
his possession (Acts 19:19). Many mission­
aries make the mistake of regarding the-
idols and religious objects used by pagans
in their various rites, as souvenir pieces, angL
as such accept them into their homes. The
result is often an oppression falling on the
whole family and their own lives, figures
which have been used in pagan rites act as
crystallization points for demonic powers.
This does not apply obviously to carvings
which are merely designed for decorative
152 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

use, although on the island of Bali in

Indonesia every carved object is immedi­
ately consecrated to the devil when it is
made, and hence should be avoided.

E. An occultly oppressed person must break

off relationships with any of his friends
who continues to practice occultism, or
who is affected by it, even if the person is
his best friend (2 Corinthians 6:14; 1
Corinthians 10:20).
An example from the mission field. A
man who belonged to a group of devil
worshippers became a Christian, and as a
result was set free. He was also healed of a
longstanding illness at the time of his con­
version. One day this new-born Christian
visited some of his old friends. They were
just about to have one of their religious
meetings. Although the Christian took no
part in the ceremonies which proceeded, he
nevertheless stayed in the room till the
service was over. The result was that his old
illness returned. He should never have
allowed himself to join with these devil
worshippers again, god allows no one to
make light of his demands.

F. The confession of sins is mentioned in

James 5:16. iTTe word ‘occult’ means
‘hidden’. The opposite to this is therefore
‘to reveal’. It is only after recognition and
confession of one’s sins that one is able to
stand before God. The confession, how­
 DEMON POSSESSION AND THE 153
WAY OF DELIVERANCE

ever, must cover a person’s whole life,

although such a confession must never be
forced. Similarly one must not make a law
that every single detail must be confessed
before forgiveness is obtained. No man
knows more than 1% of all his sins and
guilt before God, and so we must rely on
him to clean us from unknown sins (Psalm
19:12).

G. After the confession of one’s sins it is

essential through faith to appropriate the
forgiveness which God promises to us (1
John 1:9). Without faith it is impossible to
please God (Hebrews 11:6, Mark 9:23).
The only way we can hope to realize any of
the promises of the Word of God is through
faith.

H. Many people who are occultly oppressed,

however, find it almost impossible to be­
lieve. This is indeed one of the effects of
the sins of sorcery. For this reason I often
pray what one can call a prayer of renunci­
ation with the person concerned. In 2
Corinthians 4:2 we read the words, “We
have renounced the hidden things of
shame” (Nestle Greek Interlinear). Such
prayers of renunciation were already prac­
ticed in the early Church. Before a person
was baptized he was asked, “Do you re­
nounce the devil and all his works?” In
response the candidate was.. expectej±_tQ»
answer, “Yes, I renounce the devil and aD
154 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

his works.” He was then baptized. In Latin

this was called ‘abrenuntiatio diaboli’. It
still exists today in the liturgy of both the
Catholic and the Lutheran Churches. In the
counselling of the occultly oppressed,
renunciation plays an important role. Every
sin of sorcery is in effect a contract with
the devil. These contracts have therefore to
be officially cancelled and annulled
through a prayer of renunciation.

I. Following confession and renunciation we

have the absolution, the confirmation that
a person’s sins are forgiven (Mark 2:5, John
20:23). The counsellor is not able to*
dispense this absolution on his own
authority. He merely acts as the mouth­
piece of God.

A prayer of renunciation is basically some­

thing that the oppressed person does for
himself. The counsellor on occasions, how­
ever, may find that he has to loose the
person himself. This promise is based on
Matthew 18:18. But a merely liturgical or
methodical use of this promise will meet
with no success. Loosing a person is essen­
tially a charismatic task. Before a coun­
sellor can take this step he must ascertain
what God’s will is. The counsellor who
looses a person too quickly can come under
heavy attack from Satan.

K. In difficult cases of oppression one needs

 DEMON POSSESSION AND THE 155
WAY OF DELIVERANCE
to form a prayer group to help the person
get free. This idea is based on Matthew'
18:19. Unfortunately there are very few
groups of Christians willing to accept
task. In counselling demonically oppressed
people, however, without this united effort
one can often hope for little success. Let
me give you an example.
A doctor had been practicing sorcery
for many years. He came to see me on four
occasions before he finally broke with his
occult past. The bondage he was suffering
from was so strong that it was necessary to
form a prayer group who were ready to
pray for him. For four months the group
continued to pray regularly and intensively
for the doctor. It was only then that the
battle was finally won.
L. In a number of cases of possession, prayer
and fasting is an essential part of the de­
liverance. As Jesus said in Matthew 17:217
“This kind never comes out except by
prayer and fasting.” Fasting is not a means
oT forcing God’s hands, but merely a
support for earnest prayer.
M. Any counsellor who ventures into the field
we have been talking about must place him­
self daily and hourly under the protection
of the Lord. I know from my own experi­
ence that if the Lord had not stepped in to
protect me, my work among the
demonically oppressed would have ruined
me long ago. It is a triumph of the grace of
 156 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

God that I have been able to serve him all

these years.
But it is not only the counsellor who
needs to put himself under the daily protec­
tion of the blood of Jesus. The person who
has been delivered must also learn to flee to
the cross of Christ. We are too weak in our-
selves to stand up to ah the powers oTdarF
ness. It is only in Christ that we can stand'.
“His name has made this man strong'”
(Acts 3:16).

The devil sometimes entangles the coun­

N.
sellor and attacks him severely. God, how­
ever, has placed an excellent weapon in our
hands to deal with situations like this: the
right to command thexlevil in the name oF
-Jesus. The apostle Paul himself used this
right at Philippi (Acts 16:18). The person
seeking deliverance must also learn to cony“
mand in the name of the Lord. He must
not just remain passive, but must take hold
Str,the_sword of the Spirit himself and learn
t to use it (Ephesians 6:f7JT
I came across a good example of com­
manding in Christ’s name in the spring of
1972. It was told to me by the Rev. Henry
Dyck. ..(First Mennonite Church, Kelowna
BC),
In the autumn of 1971, the Lord sent
a revival to the Ebenezer Baptist Church
(Rev. W. L. McLeod) and the Alliance
Church (Rev. W. Boldt) in Saskatoon,
Canada. By early 1972 the flame had
 DEMON POSSESSION AND THE 157
WAY OF DELIVERANCE

spread to Kelowna. The first church to

experience the revival there was that of
Rev. Babbel, but it soon spread to other
churches as well. Many ministers who had
been Christians for years were moved
afresh by the Lord.
At the same time the power of the
Lord Jesus was seen to be at work in the
signs which followed. This brings me to the
example which I mentioned above and
which illustrates the right of a Christian to
command in the name of Jesus. The
eleven-year-old son of a minister came
across a group of boys at the Wood Lake
Elementary School who were playing with
a ouija-board. Theoiuja-board is a spiritistic
piece of apparatus through which one can
contact not only the subconscious mind
but alsc?\the spirit world. It is particularly
effective when someone is present who has
mediumistic powers.
The pupils were playing with the
board which was giving answers to all the
question they put to it. Suddenly one of
the boys asked, “Where do you get your
power from?” The ouija-board answered,
‘‘.From Hitler,” The boy replied, “Come
on, don’t kid us, tell us-the truth.” This
time the ouija-board replied, “Lucifer.”
The pupils did not understand what we
word meant, so they asked “Who?”
“Satan.” was the reply.
The eleven-year-old minister’s son
who had also been affected by the revival,
158 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

felt duty bound because of the faith to do

something. Therefore, turning_ to the board
he said, “In the name of the Lord Jesus P
condemn you.” From that moment on the
ouija-board went dead, and gave no more
answers at all.
One of the other boys who watched
I all this take place reacted by saying, “If
j that’s the kind of power there is in the
' name of Jesus, then I’m going to start going
to Sunday School to get to know more
about him.”

O. Just as the body needs food, so our

spiritual nature needs nourishment (Acts
2:42). The Christian who fails to make use
of these ‘means of grace’ - God’s Word,
fellowship, communion, prayer - will not
be able to stand in the figKT “

P. Anyone who finds himself involved in this

battle, and that includes the counsellor as
much as the oppressed person himself,
must put on the whole armour of God
(Ephesians 6:10-18). People have often
asked me how we should make use of these
weapons. What we have to do is to activate
the Word of God in our lives by means of
the promises of the Holy Spirit. Let me
explain. In my own life I have often experi­
enced times when I have felt downcast and
almost in despair. At such times, however,
the Holy Spirit has somehow brought cer­
tain passages of the Bible home to me with
 DEMON POSSESSION AND THE \ 159
WAY OF DELIVERANCE V—

renewed force. Let me quote a few:

Joel 2:21 — Be glad and rejoice, the Lord
has done great things.
Mark 6:50 — Jesus said to them, “Take
heart, it is I; have no fear.”
Isaish 66:2 — This is the man to whom I
will look, he that is humble and con­
trite in spirit, and trembles at my
Word.
Deut. 1:29, 30 — “Do not be in dread or
afraid of them. The Lord your God
who goes before you will himself fight
for you.”
Deut. 33:3 — All those consecrated to him
were in his hands.
Psalm 73:28 — But for me it is good to be
near God; I have made the Lord God
my refuge, that I may tell of all thy
works.
2 Tim. 4:17 — But the Lord stood by me
and gave me strength.
Nehemiah 8:10 — Do not be grieved, for
the joy of the Lord is your strength.
Isaiah 57:18 — I have seen his ways, but I
will heal him; I will lead him and
requite him with comfort.
Jer. 50:34 — Their redeemer is strong; the
Lord of Hosts is his Name.
When the battle rages around us we
will find that God’s words are a strong
fortress, they are a rock upon which we can
safely build.

Q. The Lord expects us to reckon on the

160 DEMONOLOGY, PAST AND PRESENT

victory he has won. When the children of

Israel began to despair before the Red Sea
(Exodus 14:13, 14) they realized suddenly
that God had already planned the victory.
When there seemed to be no hope left, God
divided the waters. We too must reckon on
the victory which has already been pre­
pared for us. As Paul wrote in 1 Corin­
thians 15:57, “Thanks be to God who gives
us the victory through our Lord Jesus'
Christ.” In every battle with the enemy we
must realize that the victory is ours.

R. Finally, Jesus warned us of the fact that

evil spirits which have beendriven out of a,
person can return again (Luke 11:24). If d
personcioesnot UnderstancTEKe method of
the enemy’s attack he can soon fall victim
to his wiles. The counsellor must therefore
make the delivered person aware of the fact
that the evil spirits will always try to find a
new point of attack.
We must underline once more that
these eighteen points cannot be used like a
set of rules for counselling the occultly
oppressed. Jesus can in his sovereignty
bypass any or all of the steps, and give
lasting deliverance at once. My aim has
simply been to describe the weapons which
the Scriptures put at our disposal. Our duty
is but to “return to our homes and to de­
clare how much God has done for us”
(Luke 8:39). We cannot do better than to
end now with some of the triumphant
 DEMON POSSESSION AND THE 161
WAY OF DELIVERANCE
words of the last book in the Bible on our
lips:
“Worthy are you, our Lord God to
receive glory and honor and power.”
“You were slain and by your blood
you ransomed men for God.”
“Worthy is the Lamb to receive power
and wealth and wisdom and might and
honor and glory and blessing.”
(Revelation 4:11, 5:9,12)
cisurc-Hâ- loAvuL 'PrckyA-t.-r â

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' I *7--24 (2^<^4ZA^

 DEMONOEOÖI
W AND
-LUCENT
o the Ouija Board, fortune telling, and <^^_occult
Dbelieve
practices have any effect on the Christie^^Wji we
in demon possession today? What a^^flftig
marks of demon possession? In a day in which “Saran is
alive, well, and active on planet Earth,” it is neces^jy for
Christians to be aware of the tactics of the enem^Koch
discusses the occult, mediums, demon possessiW and
deliverance, miracles of healing, and other related subjects.
. scholarly, concise and thoroughly Scriptural in
documentation. ... An excellent work by an authority of
international reputation.” —Presbyterian Journal
"Extremely valuable to the minister with counseling duties. . . .
well written and documented thoroughly.”—Standard Publishing
. . very worthwhile and indicative of the widespread nature of
the occult.” —Robert Lightner, Bibliotheca Sacra

Kurt E. Koch (1913-1987) was a noted German theologian,

minister and evangelist. He received the Doctor of Theology degree
from Tubingen University. Dr. Koch pastored in the state L^peran
church as well as studying the occult and ministering tcBhose
suffering fr« itsWfects.
His ministrllook him to
ISBN 0-Ů354-3013-5 more than 65 countries
on all five continents.
90000 Other books by Dr. Koch
include: Between Christ
and Satan, ^evil's
Alphabet, Occu^BlBC,
and Occult BtKtiage

.
9i,''“780825 430138
Occúlt /Spiritual Warfare