A good example of demon possession is found in
Spiritual Experiences Told to Zion’s League
by J.A. Holsworth.

I want to tell you an experience that came to me. I want to show you how the Lord is watching over His own, protecting them from the Adversary. I was alone at home one night; my wife was attending a meeting at church. About 9:30 I decided to go to bed. I had taken off my street clothes, had on my night clothes, and was in the act of getting in bed when a voice spoke to me just as plain as I am speaking to you now, and said, “Go and minister to sister so-and-so,” calling her by name. I hesitated. I knew that I was the only person in my home at that time. I stood there. I did not know what to do. Again these words were repeated to me. I hurriedly took off my night clothes, put on my street clothes, and hurried to this home, which was not very far from my own home. I knocked on the door, then opened the door myself. The reason I did that was because I was so well acquainted with them. As I opened the door, I knew there was something wrong. This sister was sitting in a big arm chair, her black eyes snapping like fire. The husband and father was sitting over in the corner of the room with his head in his hands. The dining room table was pulled over against the wall. The dining room chairs were tipped over. The children were in the far corner of the room, crying. To me, it looked as if there had been a free-for-all. The husband never looked up all the time I was in the room. This sister would flop up on the arm of her chair just like a cat, and back again. I only asked one question. I said, “Sister, I came to administer to you.” She looked at me and said, “If that’s the way you feel about it, all right.”

I walked over to where she was sitting. A feeling came over me giving me to understand if I could place my hands upon her head, I would have power over every other power in that room. I administered to this sister in the name of the Lord. I rebuked the opposing power that was in that room. During my prayer I could feel this sister sinking deeper in her chair until she became limp. After taking my hand from her head, I asked no questions. I bade them goodnight, and went home. I did or said nothing except what the Lord had told me to do.

I went to work the next morning. During the morning, this sister came to my home and asked my wife why I came up to administer to her when she had not asked for it. My wife said, “I don’t know, only he said he felt impressed to do it.” This sister said, ‘If Brother Holsworth had not come to the door when he did, I would have killed my children. I had murder in my heart. When he came to our front door, I could have killed him if I had had anything to do it with.”

Now listen here, young people, that family is a fine family. Those children are as fine a young people as there are in Independence. But when the Satanic forces take hold of our bodies, it causes us to do things that afterwards we are sorry for. This sister said when I came in her front door, a feeling came over her that made her hate the ground I walked on. I know she doesn’t, for I love that family. So you see, the Lord watches over His own.

After reading Brother Holsworth’s testimony, I was glad that he was prepared spiritually so God could use him to help others in need. We should always be ready to respond as he was, for we never know when someone will need our help. One night I was needed. I stumbled in the dark and grabbed for the phone. “Who in the world is calling at this hour? ” I mumbled. It was 3 a.m. Gene was working a midnight shift and I wondered if he had had some kind of trouble at work. He’s an air traffic controller, and their stress level is very high causing heart attacks, suicides, and many kinds of problems. “Oh, I hope not,” I thought. I didn’t recognize the voice on the other end of the line. “I need to talk to someone,” he said. I was confused and half awake. “You must have the wrong number,” I tried to tell him, but I was answered with a pleading, “Please talk to me. I have to talk to somebody. Nobody will talk to me.”

He must have just starting dialing numbers and no one would talk to him, so he kept dialing and hit our number. My first reaction was, “This guy is either stoned or a prankster.” I wasn’t too thrilled at the thoughts of a conversation with a man under either of those conditions at 3 a.m. But I listened. Something in his voice caused me to want to check it out before I cut him off.

“I’ve done something terrible,” he blurted out. That woke me up. My mind imagined everything. I didn’t know but what a murderer was on the other end of the line. It was an eerie feeling. So I began praying for wisdom to know what to say to help calm him down. It was obvious that he was dead serious, and troubled. He’d done something! When he was able to gain enough courage to tell me, he told details—things I would just as soon not have heard. He needed his parents, but they were too far away now. However, I don’t think he would have opened up to them as he did to someone whom he couldn’t see face to face. He was begging me to help ease his conscience. His story was briefly as follows:

He was an 18-year-old who had left his parents and home town to come north and get a job. He rented an apartment, but had no one to share it with. And he was lonely. Next door lived a 13-year-old “Dolly Parton.” She flirted and teased him to the point where his impulse to get his hands on her was almost uncontrollable. “I just had to touch her,” he told me. That evening, about midnight, she sneaked out of the house to meet him. They both were very unwise—they decided to go into his apartment for something to drink. He said suddenly something came over him that he couldn’t control. (I knew it was an evil spirit, but said nothing.) Before it was over, she was raped. He being 18, she 13—that’s statutory rape—a felony—prison time.

The trauma he described will undoubtedly affect her emotionally for many years to come. She had not bargained for this much with her cutesie flirting. This should be a warning to young girls who use their wiles. Human impulses of the young male are at their peak at this time. Mothers need to tell their girls that if you play with matches and gasoline you will get an explosion!

Little by little, he stumbled through what he had done. When he said she was still in the bedroom, he thought asleep, I feared for her life. He talked as if he was in shock, and I couldn’t discern if he was still unstable or not. I thought about her telling her parents, and their charging him with raping a minor. I prayed that he wouldn’t think about that and do something worse to her, for I feared the bad spirit might still be with him.

When he finished talking, I began. I talked and talked, hoping to keep him on the line until he could settle down and regain clarity of mind. I was not surprised to learn he was semi-religious, thus the guilt trip. I told him everything I could think of about Jesus Christ and His work, and that only through bringing Jesus into his life would he receive what he needed. I didn’t judge him; he was feeling low enough. I tried to lift him from the mire and point him to the Christ. Finally he began to calm down.

Before we hung up he asked, “What is your phone number in case I want to call you again?” He said he had just punched numbers and had no idea whom he had called. No names passed between us. I gave him the phone number, and we hung up with his saying he was going to go to church and try to find Jesus. I looked at the clock and it was 5 a.m. I prayed for him and fell into bed.

The next evening I went to prayer service and shared the experience with our people. I challenged each one to study to be prepared with faith and hope in Christ for a remission of our sins, just in case someone might call them at 3 a.m. When that call came, I realized I needed all the spiritual preparation I could have gotten to be able to help God lift one of His sinking sons. I hoped my life and preparation was pleasing to my Heavenly Father, so he could give me that extra insight and wisdom to say just the right thing. After the service was over a young woman said to me, “Isn’t it strange he dialed your number?” I smiled at her, and she then answered her own question with, “No, I guess it isn’t.”

Are you ready to help someone, or have you even thought that someone may need you sometime? You never know when your phone might ring.

Footnote
Satan Possesses.  He takes away one’s ability to act for himself. Legions of devils possess a man (Luke 8:27-39). Another man couldn’t speak because of a devil (Luke 11:14).