Thoughts on faith, life, and art.

1. Supernatural Experiences

Who doesn’t love a good scary story? Especially if that story involves the supernatural! Well, here are a handful of stories and situations from my life that opened my eyes to the following realities: First, that there is indeed a supernatural realm. Second, that supernatural realm interacts with and interfaces with the natural realm on many levels. We may not always be aware of its presence or influence—but in some instances, such as in the examples given below, it becomes blatantly obvious.

A Guardian Angel
When I was a child, I overheard a group of adults animatedly talking about a friend of theirs. There was a mother who had walked in to discover that her baby had somehow opened the window, crawled outside, and was dangling from the second-story ledge by their tiny little hand. Horrified, the mother rushed over and pulled the baby to safety. She turned and scolded his big sister who was happily playing right next to him. The little girl responded saying, “but he wasn’t going to fall, mommy,” she then pointed to the empty space next to the window, “that man was holding him.” That story created quite the buzz with all the adults in the room. I heard words like “guardian angel”, and “miraculous” being thrown around. While everyone else was excited about the story, I was horrified.
Here I was, just barely getting the hang of the physical world around me, only to find out that there was an entirely new realm that I knew nothing about. Sure, one might think that it was comforting to know that there might be these benevolent protective invisible beings who look after us, but I didn’t like it at all. What if there were bad ones too? You know, invisible malevolent beings bent on our destruction? The whole thing made me uncomfortable. I remember riding in the car, wondering if I had a guardian angel myself… Was he in the empty seat beside me? Was he flying alongside the car weaving in and out of traffic to keep up with us? I eventually put it out of my mind because it was too uncomfortable to think about.
I decided to share this story, though, because it was the first time I became aware that there just might be something more to the world than what we can see, feel, touch, and observe. You know, something more than just the natural world.

A Haunting
One day, a family member called my dad. She was in a panic because she’d seen a strange man in her house. The first time it happened had been late at night. Her husband had investigated, and when he didn’t find anything, they’d assumed her eyes had played a trick on her. The second time, however, was very different. She was in the kitchen preparing food, and she looked up to see that same man standing in the hall watching her work. The man turned and walked toward the baby’s room. Her mama-bear instincts kicked in, and she chased after him. The man entered the room and the baby began to cry, but when she rounded the corner, no one was there except for the crying baby. Thinking the man might be hiding in the closet, she grabbed the baby and turned to leave and that’s when she saw him. He was staring back at her from inside the mirror.
I don’t know about you, but that story really impacted me. For years, I was scared to look in the mirror when I went to the bathroom late at night. Anyway, the guardian angel story is all warm and fuzzy, but the mirror story—it confirmed my worst fears—there did seem to be an opposite and more sinister side to the supernatural. Still, both of those stories were accounts from other people. I hadn’t had any supernatural experiences of my own, so it was tempting to dismiss these stories as urban legends or some type of mental episode—but then I had my own experience.

A Visitor in the Night
It was around three o’clock in the morning when I woke up bright and alert. I felt a creepy presence, and suddenly I had goosebumps, and all my hair was standing on end. Then it dawned on me. There was someone, or rather, some “thing” laying in bed behind me. It had its arms wrapped around my chest and was breathing hot air on my neck. I flew out of bed and turned on the lights! To my surprise, I found nothing but an empty bed. That was such a terrifying experience, I wasn’t able to go back to sleep for the rest of the night. Part of me wondered if I had imagined the whole thing, or if it had even been a bad dream or some sort of sleep paralysis. But then it happened again. And again. And again! Every night, at the exact same time, the exact same thing happened.
This continued, unrelenting, for three months straight. I knew I wasn’t crazy, and I knew I wasn’t imagining things, but I had no idea why this—creature—was intentionally, and maliciously targeting me. But there was no question in my mind. This was a genuine supernatural entity, and once I confronted it as such, and dealt with it biblically, it went away. Why it was there, and how I got it to go away we’ll talk about later on. But suffice it to say. . . had there been any doubt in my mind about the reality of the supernatural, this situation would have cured it.

An Unexpected Exorcism
One night, driving home from work, my buddy Jackson called (names have been changed to protect the innocent). I answered, and heard “Daniel? Daniel? Are you there?” I could tell right away that something was wrong. My first clue was that it wasn’t Jackson on the line. It was his roommate. My second clue was the sound of people yelling, and things being smashed in the background. Jackson’s roommate said, “you’ve got to help us, I don’t know what to do — I think Jackson is possessed by a demon!” That was the last thing I ever expected to hear come out of his mouth. I quickly pulled off the road into a random Chili’s parking lot.
Two thoughts simultaneously crossed my mind. First, Jackson was one of the godliest men I knew. He was one of my closest friends since childhood, and someone who regularly encouraged me in my faith—there had to be some mistake. I mean, how could someone who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God become possessed by a demon? After all, what association has light with darkness, right? And my second thought was, how in the wide world would the first thing that pops into someone’s head when a demon shows up be, “let’s call Daniel!” I’d never dealt with demons before, and had no idea how to go about delivering someone!
My thoughts were abruptly cut short by voices roaring in the background. . . Voices—yes, plural—screeching and yelling something about “owning him.” I didn’t count, but it sounded like a dozen or more voices speaking in unison. The voices were speaking audible words, but the sound was the furthest thing from human I’d ever heard. Some were high-pitched and screechy, and others were low and gravely. They were all venomous, hateful, and loud! Through the commotion, his roommate informed me that he had five guys from their college football team trying to restrain him, but scrawny little Jackson was tossing them around like rag-dolls.
I realized very quickly that, 1) this was either an elaborate and tasteless joke, or 2) that my friend was not truly a born again, bona fide, saved-by-the-blood Christian like I thought he was, and therefore was actually genuinely possessed by a demon, or 3) that he was indeed a bona fide, born again believer, and the demons weren’t playing by the rules, and that wasn’t fair, or 4) what I thought I knew about demon-possession was all wrong. I landed somewhere between options 3 and 4 and did the only thing I could do—I conducted an exorcism over the phone. I didn't know what I was doing, so it was long, messy, and chaotic. But, in the end, Jackson was delivered, and the demon cast out. How we cast it out, and what I should have done differently, we will talk about later.

Another Phone Exorcism
Another friend encountered his own roommate in almost the exact same situation. In fact, the similarities were uncanny. There was chaos, destruction of property, yelling, screaming, frothing at the mouth, eyes rolling back, multiple voices at once, and everything that you’d expect from a classic demon possession. Only this time there was one difference. The voices were speaking in a different language. At first, the people trying to help him thought it was gibberish, but then one of the guys recognized the language. He said it sounded like Egyptian Arabic. He knew because his grandmother was from Egypt and spoke that particular language. He called her for help, and she confirmed that yes—this random white guy from Kansas was speaking perfect Egyptian Arabic. Thankfully, the Egyptian grandmother also happened to be a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, and over the course of an hour or two, speaking in her native tongue, was able to cast the demon out. Needless to say, it was a long and traumatizing experience for everyone—but in the end, deliverance was had!

I have many stories just like these, but I chose to share these particular ones because of how they provide the perfect launching pad for many of the topics I want to discuss. I’ve always found it interesting, that when you share stories like this with people—two things happen. First, they typically get uncomfortable (which I completely understand)! It is very disconcerting to think that there is an evil antagonistic force out there that you can’t see or defend yourself from. But the second thing is, people often have stories of their own! Either something that happened to them directly or to someone they know. I will also share some of those stories as they become relevant. Also, if you have one you'd like to share with me—send me a message! I'd love to hear it!

(posted 02-06-23)