Who's using the powers of darkness to battle demons? When I was ill and delivered it was a matter of a Thai Christian simply praying for me, nothing more. My husband had previously prayed as in "Please make her healthy" with no effect whatsoever. When a Thai Christian explained that the problem was demonic and prayed specifically against the spirits involved, the effect was instantaneous. There were no fireworks, no incantations, no shouting against demons. In some cases it's not that easy. Per the Luke account it took Jesus Himself at least two tries to deliver the Gadarene and He engaged in conversation with the demon. Paul addressed the demon in the girl who was prophesying. So what?

The Burmese guy in question was a classmate who became interested in Christianity after he saw the power of God evident in my deliverance in response to simple prayer. He had witnessed the curse and my illness and recovery. He was simply saying that I suffered for so long because of not recognizing the illness has having an occult origin. He was suggesting that if I had not had an excluded-middle worldview, I would have recognized the curse earlier and prayed against it before being disabled for a matter of months. What's deceptive or occult about that? He was right.

My problem with stateside churches is that they don't recognize the demonic as a possible source of major problems (not the only source). One hears statements like "It's not demonic, only schizophrenia" (or anorexia nervosa or psychosomatic whatever). That's like saying "It's not staphylococcal pneumonia, he's only short of breath". Staph pneumonia is one cause (amongst others) of shortness of breath. Demons are one cause (possibly amongst others) of schizophrenia and anorexia nervosa.

An actual, true case in point: A patient I'll call Jenny had anorexia nervosa. She had multiple hospitalizations and treatments and counseling with no effect whatsoever. When some believers talked to her, they discovered that she had a "friend" called Jenny B who lived inside her head and told her what to eat and when. With some great effort, they convinced her to pray to Jesus to make Jenny B leave. She did. Jenny B was then outside of her but still talking to her. With time, and prayer and discipling, she was entirely freed from Jenny B and gaining weight. She again began to menstruate, was perfectly healthy and married a couple years later. There is no way she could have discussed Jenny B with her pastor who dismissed the middle storey as superstition. If she had told him, he likely would not have recognized the demonic nature but would have recommended yet another psych hospitalization.

I'm traveling in a few hours and off the net for 6 days.

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Mary Vanderkooi
Kale Heywott Church (KHC)
Soddo, Ethiopia