The phone call came on Monday afternoon after I returned from St. Louis. An elder in
the congregation said, "Pastor I need some help." "Sure," I said,
"What can I do?" It was the last thing I expected to hear. "Pastor, my
brother-in-law has a ghost in his house and he doesn't know what to do."
This is my 19th year in the Ministry and no one has ever asked me for any advice on
this particular subject.
I said, "There are no ghosts; just demons impersonating what or whomever they like
such as Saul's vision of Samuel conjured up by the Witch of Endore (1Samuel 28:7ff)".
He indicated that is what he thought and had also told his brother-in-law.
The family lives about fifty miles away, attends no church, and has virtually no
knowledge of Christianity, particularly the three children, ages 14, 12, and 4. I had
baptized the brother-in-law 18 months earlier as a condition for standing up at the
baptism of his niece. He read Koelher's Annotated Catechism on Baptism, agreed to
what he read, received some further instruction, and agreed to be confirmed in a local
LCMS congregation if I did the baptism. It turned out that he never got around to going to
church as he had agreed at that time.
Knowing all the people involved as reasonable and sensible, I didn't know what to say
about the demon. I asked lots of questions. Who sees this demon? What does it look like?
Does it have a name? What does it say? Who does it talk to? What does the family want me
to do?
They had all the answers. The brother-in-law has seen it in his kitchen fairly often
for the past seven years, beginning one week after they moved in. It looks like a little
girl but he only sees it from the back. It talks to the four-year-old girl face to face,
and she says it has butterfly wings but looks "really ugly". It accompanies the
four-year-old out of the home to the near by park, gives her orders and some secret
messages.
The mother, older daughter and son have never seen it but hear strange noises. It went
away for about six months to a year and then came back and is appearing more and more
frequently. It has a two word Latin sounding name. At times the little girl asks her
mother to save her from the "ghost" and other times they play together in the
park. Actually the family was not comfortable speaking about the "ghost" and the
reasons for their increasing fear. The elder told me that they want it out of the house
and I'm the only minister they know.
Real or not, I couldn't turn down the elder's request for help. The Voters' Assembly
was meeting that night so in addition to passing the budget for the coming year and
dealing with elections and a number of important items, I asked the 34 men present to pray
that the family in question would be free from the terror of the devil.
The next morning the elder called to let me know the four-year-old came down the stairs
a little upset and demanded to know from her mother why her uncle was coming to throw out
the "ghost." Her mother insisted that there was no way she could have known we
were coming.
My instructions were that all phone calls about the situation be made outside of the
home and that nothing be discussed in the house. The mother was troubled about possible
retaliation from the "ghost" if I failed to get rid of it. The little girl
received a series of secret messages and had a nightmare the night before we arrived.
I called a number of LCMS pastors and asked if they had any problems with this kind of
thing. They all said they never had. However, a number of them gave me some fairly serious
warnings about what could happen if this thing is real. One advised me Walther said that
being a Christian does not guarantee freedom from physical afflictions from the devil in
this life such as Job and Paul endured. It is possible for the devil to destroy the flesh
of a Christian but not the soul. Clement of Alexandria, as found in the Anti-Nicene
Fathers and Luther in the American Edition acknowledged the possibility of such events.
I called an LCMS pastor near the family and asked him to come with us to the home in
question. I told him I didn't know what was going on but these people need a church and
any help we could give them. I also told him the Bible says that some of these things
can't be thrown out without prayer and fasting.
He responded that the text I was quoting was a variant reading in Matthew 17:21 and
Mark 9:29. I responded that I knew that it is a variant reading but it is included in the
Majority Text and it is not just in texts behind the Textus Receptus but is found in the
entire Byzantine tradition, particularly Mark 9:29.
I wasn't going to put my neck on the line for a variant reading if this thing was real.
Therefore, I insisted that the elder and the other pastor not eat for twenty-four hours
(my minimum definition of a fast) before we got there. I only drank water. I was surprised
to learn that the family I was visiting decided to do the same thing. I know that prayer
and fasting are not a means of grace but the Bible encourages both. Frankly, this is the
first time I ever encouraged anyone to consider fasting.
I borrowed a very fine camcorder and had the elder tape the entire event. The demons in
the New Testament are extremely bold and should not be threatened by a camcorder unless
camcorders are more threatening to demons than Christ and the cross. I don't believe that
demons are shy and flee at the slightest prospect of notoriety, but if camcorders are all
it takes to get rid of them, what a marvelous invention they are.
We drove for miles down a lonely, winding and dark country road to get to the house in
a small country town by the railroad tracks with more alleys than streets and a few
sidewalks. Why couldn't this have appeared in a new subdivision?
The three of us walked into the house. The family of five was visibly shaken and their
fear made me nervous. The mother clung to her husband's arm. The older daughter's hands
were trembling. The twelve-year-old son's eyes darted back and forth searching the walls
and ceiling. We three visitors heard and saw nothing out of the ordinary.
It had given them its name. I warned them never to use the demon's name again because
it wants to be invoked. I passed out copies of the TLH and had them turn to page 15. I
proceeded with the invocation, responses, confession and absolution, explained each part,
and then read Luke 11:14 and following. Then I switched to the order for the blessing of a
dwelling in the old TLH "Agenda". There is a prayer, a reading and exhortation
on Luke 19:1-10, and an excellent closing prayer. I told them Jesus must always stay at
their house, which means there is no room for the devil.
I added my own prayer to the closing prayer and then led them through a confession of
the Apostle's Creed and then prayed the Lords' Prayer. I noticed that none of them knew
the Creed and only the boy knew the Lord's Prayer, which he had picked up from his
baseball team.
The boy said he had been invited to a church that was fun. I responded that he didn't
need any more fun he needed some religion. I promised them that the other pastor would
visit them any time they needed him even at 2:00AM. I encouraged them to all sleep in
their own beds. Every time they heard something at night they all piled in together. They
had lived in constant fear.
They seemed genuinely relieved over what had taken place. They promised to attend the
other pastor's church. Having seen nothing or heard nothing out of the ordinary we left.
What actually happened is still a mystery. Was it real or hysteria? I experienced a
couple of improbable but helpful events connected with all this but they could be
explained as coincidental. Was the family feeding on each other's fears, or was it all
true? I still can't be sure. Most of what they knew about religion they picked up from
demon possession and ghost movies on TV. Hollywood is the foremost promoter of belief in
the devil and demons in America.
The movies "Ghost" and "Sixth Sense" teach the viewer to be good
and to help ghosts when possible. In other words, they are teaching salvation by works and
cooperation with evil spirits.
As ignorance about the Bible and religion in America increases, pastors will probably
see an accompanying increase in demon possession both real and imagined. This year the
cable networks outdid themselves in horror films for a full week before Halloween. This is
also the same time period that this family experienced an increase in the presence of the
"ghost." Perhaps by the second week in November they couldn't take it any more.
The family thought I would do a little bit more than I did to get rid of the
"ghost" because they had seen the movie "Exorcist". How many people
today understand the church by what they see on TV? For many, comfort and peace in Christ
are unattainable abstractions.
A growing percentage of the population is being taken over by the fear and superstition
of the 21st Century technological Dark Ages. Our culture may also be raising more paranoid
children than we may realize.
From the beginning I treated the entire event as authentic. On Monday I was curious but
by Thursday I didn't want to see anything. Thank God, I didn't see or hear anything and I
have the videotape to prove it. The possibility of confronting a demon is no picnic and
what if it decides to throw me out instead of I it?
Frankly such an encounter would be a suspension of the laws of nature. I have become
accustomed to enjoying God's unseen providence and blessings through the laws of nature.
In other words, I like living by faith and have no desire to see devils, demons, or ghosts
on the loose.
If there was a demon, the prayers of my Voters' Assembly to remove it were answered. If
these people were victims of mass hysteria, I was glad to give them the peace of Christ.
In either case the result is the same; people live in the fear of the devil and/or this
world if they lack the assurance of God's Word.
The members of Redeemer Lutheran Church
are so confident that Christ is watching over them they don't think of themselves as being
terrorized by the devil. That is how it should be. I've never seen them trembling in their
homes or behaving as if they were in a bomb shelter instead of their living rooms.
One wonders what the Church Growth/Leadership Training Movement would do with this one?
Entertainment evangelism doesn't seem to be a very effective remedy for demon possession,
terrors of conscience, and the certainty of damnation because of sin.
There may be a certain percentage of the population looking for entertainment in church
and there may also be a larger percentage than we realize who are looking for peace of
mind and freedom from sin and all their fears. Acts 10:38 says, "How God anointed
Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and
healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him."
For some of us, sweet deliverance and peace Christ are the best thing the church has to
offer.
After we left the family, the elder took the other pastor and myself out to supper. His
original goal was to get some pastors to help his in-laws. We were delighted to have
someone along to pick up the check.
As of this writing the family reports no further sightings of anything and is now
attending and LCMS church. The congregation and the pastor are orthodox. My advice for all
cases of demon possession, real or imagined: Go to church!
Just after I wrote the above paragraph I spoke with a 21-year-old girl on the phone.
She told me I have no idea how difficult it is to take responsibility for doing the right
thing instead of simply saying God is watching over me and will take care of me.
There are more people out there who need the real peace and comfort of Christ than we
may realize. They are not looking for entertainment.