The lure of the spirit world

Stories of Capture
and Escape

—But more often of capture and eventual destruction, rather than escape.
First, we will consider several stories of capture and ultimate ruin,—sometimes from only one encounter with a witch or spiritualist.

Roy Anderson tells of an ocean journey from Australia to New Zealand. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, famous both as the author of the Sherlock Homes Series and as a leading spiritualist, was on the ship. Anderson’s cabin mate, who lived in Sydney, was a salesman for a large engineering company.

When he mentioned that he was going to speak with Doyle, Anderson warned him not to do so. “You will probably end up being a spiritualist.” But the salesman shrugged off the advice.

Returning later, he told Anderson that Doyle had told him about several of his ancestors. And then the salesman announced that he was going to become a spiritist (another name for a spiritualist). As soon as the ship docked, he immediately resigned from his firm and told his wife they were moving with Doyle to England, to help him in his work. Now under the control of another power, there is no indication that he ever escaped (R.A. Anderson, Secrets of the Spirit World, pp. 77-78).

“I began reading anti-Christian books and they gave me what I wanted, reasons for rejecting Christianity. Books about the occult excited me the most. It really turned me on to realize that there was a power out there waiting for me, from a different source than I’d heard about in church.

“One night I was watching a Satan worship service on television. A high priest was praying to Satan . . I thought, this must be the other side, the other Force . . and I’m going to try it!

“So I told God to get lost, that even if he was real I didn’t want him in my life anymore. I shook my fist in his face and cursed him. I wanted the supernatural Force I’d seen in that Satan worship service. As I cursed God, suddenly I felt this other Force come into me.

“I gave myself to Satan that night . . and I felt an overwhelming hatred for God—which I knew came from this Force. I damned God until I had no more strength . .

“I would pull all the shades down, take the phone off the hook, put a chain on the door . . and start communicating with spirits. I’d raise my hands to Satan, thank him for all the blessings he’d given me, and pray to him.

“Often the house would become icy cold, and I would see the spirits.

“At first I thought I was in control . . but the more involved I became with Satan, the more I realized he was controlling me . . dictating to me what I could and couldn’t do.

“I would find myself in places I hadn’t intended to go . . I was in sort of a trance, out of control. My life was no longer my own.

“I finally decided to commit suicide, because I had lost that peace Satan had seemed to give me at first.”—Greg Jordan, in a personal interview with Dave Hunt, in The Cult Explosion, pp. 148-149.

A husband and wife, who expressed great skepticism about spiritism, went to hear a medium speak at Foresters Hall in the heart of London’s West End. After giving a brief introduction, the spiritist medium named this couple, and mentioned that less than six weeks earlier the wife’s sister had died. —Then something that looked like the dead sister suddenly appeared on the platform beside the spiritist lecturer. After the meeting, the couple said that they were now confirmed spiritualists and would follow them wherever they might lead (Anderson, pp. 10-11).

Next, here are several stories of capture which ultimately resulted in later deliverance as the imperiled ones cried to God for help.

“Consider the case of Bill Slater, head of BBC television drama. One evening, after attending ‘an impromptu séance with a Ouija (pronounced, wee-jee) board, he went home. In the early hours of the morning:

“ ‘I found myself half-awake, knowing there was some kind of presence massing itself on my chest. It was, to my certain knowledge, making every effort to take over my mind and body. It cost me considerable willpower to concentrate all my faculties to push the thing away. And, for what seemed like twenty minutes, this spiritual tussle went on between this awful presence and myself. Needless to say, although before going to bed I had felt perfectly happy and at ease with a very good friend I knew well. But now I was absolutely terrified; I have never known such fear since. I was finally able to call my friend’s name; he woke up, put on the light, and was astonished to find me well-nigh a gibbering idiot. I have never since had any psychic experience.’ ”—Bill Slater, as told to his friend, Colin Wilson, Mysteries: An Investigation into the Occult, p. 451.

In the book, Facts on Spirit Guides, John Ankerberg and John Welden tell about Carl, a psychologist with a degree in physics and a personal interest in religion and parapsychology (the study of the occult).
Becoming a leading parapsychologist researcher, he spent a number of years at a mid-Western university, continuing experiments which included numerous psychic and mystical experiences.

“Gradually, however, Carl admitted to himself that some deep alteration was taking place inside of him. He had earlier encountered some gnawing doubts about the fundamental nature of the spiritual path he was now on. But he had suppressed them, because they were too uncomfortable in their implications. Any doubt as to what kind of spirit was leading him could mean a total revision of his work; it could even mean resigning his professorship and renouncing his parapsychological research . . Eventually, after years of painstaking effort, Carl became consumed by forces so evil he ended up as an incoherent vegetable requiring eleven months of hospitalization . . He finally had to conclude:

“ ‘Solemnly and of my own free will I wish to acknowledge that knowingly and freely I entered into possession by an evil spirit. And, although that spirit came to me under the guise of saving me, perfecting me, helping me to help others, I knew all along it was evil’ (quoted in Malachi Martin, Hostage to the Devil: the Possession and Exorcism of Five Living Americans, p. 485).”—John Ankerberg and John Welden, Facts on Spirit Guides, pp. 40-41.

After having earlier held Bible studies with a family in New Zealand, Roy Anderson found that the father spent his spare time communicating with spirits in a private room in his home.
After several years of efforts to reach this man for Christ, accompanied by a friend, Anderson went to the man’s home one day.

“Before going up to the house we prayed, and then I phoned to say we were coming. The wife met us at the door and led us into the living room. As soon as I entered, I sensed that things were anything but reassuring; for there sat our friend in silent communion with the spirits. I had seen him, on other occasions, sitting on the davenport talking to his spirit friend. He spoke no words; it was thought communion.

“We waited a few minutes; then, began our conversation in a casual strain at first . . [but soon] his attitude changed. He became adamant, and for an hour and a half he opposed everything we suggested. Seeing we were getting nowhere, I rose to leave. In doing so, however, I said, ‘I have never left this home without having prayer, and I do not intend to tonight. Let us kneel together.’

“This took him somewhat off guard. Naturally he was in no mood to pray, but out of respect he cooperated. He had the same leering smirk that I had seen at other times when he had been communing with spirits . .

“Then I asked him to pray. Scarcely had he begun when I sensed something was wrong. He seemed hardly able to speak. I knew what it was . . for we were being pressured by an unseen power. It is a harrowing experience to feel every inch of one’s body under pressure, which becomes stronger every moment. We could scarcely breathe, much less speak.

“Then the door opened of its own accord and in came a huge apparition, appearing as a knight in shining armor and holding aloft an upturned Turkish scimitar. At the sight, my friend [the man who lived in the house], this powerfully built former police officer and leader of a detective squad, sprang from his place. Throwing one arm around his wife’s neck and the other around mine, he clung to us, trembling like a frightened child!

“The situation was desperate, for this spirit threatened to kill him. Summoning all the strength I could, I challenged, ‘In the name of Jesus Christ, I command the devils to leave this house at once!’

“What followed was terrific! Never before or since have I heard anything like it. Hell seemed to be let loose! Windows rattled, doors slammed, and the whole house shook as if by an earthquake. We heard shrieking and yelling. The house rocked, but we remained on our knees until at last the uproar ceased. The calm that followed was as impressive as the tumult before.

“As we rose from our knees, we looked at each other in amazement. That man’s look of terror was gone, but he was still shaking.

“Now he knew that God was there, in the very place which had been rattled by the powers of hell. He also knew that the power of Jesus Christ is far greater than that of Satan.”—Roy A. Anderson, Secrets of the Spirit World, pp. 8-9.

Anderson also tells an earlier experience when he led a university student, from Birmingham, England, to God. The man had earlier been an assistant to one of England’s leading scientists—who was also a prominent spiritualist.

Later, when his wife and mother died, that man turned to a medium in the hope that he could talk to them again.

But, in spite of this background, upon now learning that the Bible condemned witchcraft and spirit­ualism, and that those who practice it were not going to heaven,—he totally renounced all those earlier connections. We will let Anderson continue the story:

“To disentangle himself was not easy, as anyone knows who has tried. ‘I just cannot get away from the spirits,’ he told me. ‘These apparitions won’t leave me alone. They continually visit me and tell me they are deeply wounded by my attitude. They wake me up in the dead of night, sometimes three or four times a night. What can I do to get away from it all?’

“We were living not far from each other, so we decided it might help if we shared a room. I could at least be company for him, and I might be able to support him in his battle with the spirits. We put our beds fairly close together, so that if he was troubled in the night he could easily waken me.

“All went well for a week or two . . Soon, however, he was accosted by the same beings as before. And it happened usually in the middle of the night. First they would shake his bed to awaken him. They would start to converse. They were usually transparent in appearance. One of them, he claimed, was the ‘living image’ of his mother. And, in an audible voice, this apparition would tell him of her affection for him.
“When he would say, ‘I do not believe you,’ and would turn his back, then the other, purporting to be his sister, would come to the other side of the bed and tell him he was breaking his mother’s heart. When this happened he would switch on the light and begin to read. He always kept a devotional book or two handy.
“All would be quiet for perhaps half an hour. Then suddenly the book would be snatched from his hands and flung to the other end of the room. The light would go out of its own accord. And a voice, harsh and strident, would call out, ‘You’ll read, will you?’ . . We felt the need of help from a higher source, so we prayed. And God heard our prayers, for deliverance came at last.”—R.A. Anderson, Secrets of the Spirit World, pp. 12-13.

A girl had become friends with a witch, and had read a little in their writings. But nothing more. Then it happened:

“On January 5, 1939, seventeen-year-old Maria and her grandmother were passing a bridge where three years before the body of Giuseppe Veraldi had been found, apparently a suicide. Maria stopped still, stared at the riverbank, and fainted.

“When she regained consciousness, she spoke in a coarse, masculine voice. ‘I am Pepe,’ she said, and she began to drink wine and smoke cigarettes, play cards, and write in the handwriting of the dead Giuseppe. She told how his friends drank his wine, threw him over the bridge, and beat him to death with an iron pipe. Then she acted out the crime. She eventually returned to her normal self when the dead boy’s mother ordered ‘him’ to leave her. Twelve years later a letter came from one of Giuseppe Veraldi’s cronies, now living in Argentina, confessing to the crime just as Maria had described it.”—Time magazine, February 18, 1957.

“A young Fijian woman, living in Winembuka, about sixty miles from Suva, whose grandfather had been a devil priest, decided she would try to contact the power with whom he communed. This was to be just a bit of fun, so she thought . .

“Against her parents’ pleadings, this girl continued to have contact with this demon . . It became so gruesome, even to her, that at last she realized she must make a break. One day she summoned all her mental strength and turned her back on the whole thing.

“Then something happened! She immediately became possessed. Her appearance changed, and she would neither eat nor drink. Clearly, a superhuman power controlled her . . In desperation, her family sent for a minister. After hearing the full story, this Christian leader asked two or three other ministers to join him. Together they sought God’s power for the girl’s deliverance.

“Then they came to the home and endeavored to talk with this young woman, but she would not communicate. Instead, she became enraged and screamed in defiance, threatening them. In reply they ordered the spirit, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her.

“Suddenly, she fastened her eyes upon them and, stretching out full length with staring eyes and frothing mouth, she made her way across the floor slithering like a snake. Then she became limp and completely still. They waited quietly for a few minutes, then bathed her face and gave her time to come to herself. At last she opened her eyes and sat up.

“ ‘Where am I, and why are you all here?’ she asked, puzzled. To her surprise, they informed her that she had taken neither food nor water for three days.

“Turning to her parents, she asked forgiveness for her defiance of their counsel. Then she thanked the ministers for their prayers, but most of all she gave gratitude to God for her deliverance.”—Roy A. Anderson, Secrets of the Spirit World, pp. 14-15.

Joan Harrison got involved in TM (transcendental meditation). She thought it was harmless, and had been told it was good for her health. The so-called “mediation” consists of mindlessly repeating over and over a “mantra,” which is the name of a Hindu demon god. Here is her story:
“During my practice of TM over the years, I often experienced the presence of spirits sitting on either side of me as I meditated.

“One night during a teachers’ training course, after many hours of meditating, one of the spirits tried to enter my body to take possession of me. It was very frightening. Only later did I learn that these spirit beings were demons. I sensed the presence of evil and resisted its attempts to possess me.

“Demon possession, I discovered, is one of the ever-present dangers of so-called ‘higher’ states of consciousness—especially so with TM, because the mantra, that one is given to repeat, is the name of a Hindu god; and the Bible says they actually represent demons (1 Cor. 10:20).”—Personal interview by Dave Hunt with Joan Harrison, quoted in Dave Hunt, The Cult Explosion, p. 156.

Next, we turn our attention to a very unusual case which shows how these are also lying spirits. It shows to what deceptive lengths these lying spirits will go in their efforts to capture someone.

“It was during the dark days of World War II. The dread word had come to a widowed mother: ‘Your son—missing in action.’ A neighbor who had also lost a son in the war invited her to attend a monthly meeting at a seance, during which a medium brought up the spirits of the dead.

“Mrs. Dorcas hesitated. Tears were in her eyes, uncertainty in her voice. She was told that her only son had appeared in that seance she had not attended, and wanted to talk with her. What should she do? She had been taught from the Scriptures that ‘the dead know not anything, neither have they anymore a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred and their envy is now perished’ (Eccl. 9:5-6).

“Loneliness in conflict with conscience, a moment of hesitation. Then she said, ‘I’ll go just once.’ But she went twice. And then, again and again she returned. She wrote to her pastor, ‘Please drop my name from your church records. I no longer believe as you do.’

“The days, weeks and months passed by. The war was finally over. One day there was a knock upon the front door of the Dorcas home. Mother Dorcas stood there transfixed, terrified. It was her son. ‘Mother, what’s the matter? Let me in.’ ‘You’re not my son,’ she cried, ‘You’re dead!’

“ ‘No, I’m very much alive,’ said the son. ‘I’ve been in a concentration camp.’ The next Sabbath mother and son went back to the church.

“Who spoke to Mrs. Dorcas through the medium? Not her son. Not an angel from heaven. It must have been a fallen angel, a demon spirit pretending to be her son.”—Varner J. Johns, Spirits of Devils Working Miracles, p. 9.

Here is another story, where a spirit misled people:
“A certain medium, Mrs. Blanch Cooler, supposedly communicated with the spirit of a man she had known earlier, named Gordon Davies. He had been killed in battle. The spirit, purporting to be Davies and speaking in a voice that sounded like his, described some unusual features of a house and other information . . But events proved the communication was not from the departed Davies, because he had not departed. He turned up alive and was shown to have had nothing whatever to do with the séance!”—Stan Baldwin, Games Satan Plays, cited in Clifford Wilson and John Weldon, Occult Shock and Psychic Forces, p. 99.

Evil spirits are not something you want to tamper with, for they will ultimately destroy you. The next chapter will tell you just how evil these creatures are!