The Latenight Phonecall

June 1972

As I mentioned in my last blog I went through a time when I believed Christians could be demon possessed. I began seeing it everywhere, even in finger nail biting habits. OK so I eventually saw the light while reading the scriptures and came to the conclusion that Christians couldn't be demon possessed like I thought. But I did learn something in the long run...we have power over spiritual matters and we are expected as Christians to use that power.

Billy was a friend from the ship I was on. Like Tommy he was a drinker before he became Christian and like Tommy he liked to fight before he was a Christian. While I was still looking for demons around every corner I got a call from Billy's wife asking me to come over right away because something bad had happened to Billy. So I hitchhiked the 20 or so miles it took to get to their apartment.

I knocked on the door at 1:30 in the morning and was told to come in. Billy was there and his wife was next to him. She had been beaten. I noticed that Billy's pants were drenched from urine as he got up from the couch I also saw that he had intense hate in his eyes. "What's he doing here?" he yelled as he came straight for me. I saw immediately the hate and the demonic in his eyes... and I knew what I was dealing with.

Now as an ex hippie wannabe I didn't fight. I ran from most fights, was afraid of them and whenever they started I would usually get out quickly unless I knew the other person was like me a non fighter - than I fought. But as a Christian I wouldn't fight with anybody, however, Billy was a fighter and that usually would have scared me, but as he plowed toward me, I got bold. I commanded "In the name of Jesus, get behind me Satan!"

Billy immediately dropped to the ground and wept. Minutes later he passed out.

When he woke up he appologized to me and to his wife. He was still very drunk but was right with his God. I found out later that Billy had been drunk once before as a Christian and witnessed to everybody on the ship while he was staggaring around - the unbelievers liked to spread that story.

Billy told me that he and his wife had a fight that night so he left the apartment to cool down and get a drink. He also told me that as he took the first drink he could feel Satan enter.

Was Billy demon possessed? Absolutely not. Had he an experience with Satan? Yes. So what's the difference? Even if I had not been there, when he sobered Satan would no longer be latching on. Call it what you will, but it is not possession.