Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - May/67

Contributor - T. Hogerwaard

Title - Against The Superhuman Forces Of Evil

Topic - Spiritual Warfare

The danger of contact

Even the slightest contact with the sphere of evil is extremely perilous as may be clear from the following examples which could easily be multiplied.

Reverend F. J. F. Van Hasselt told me the following experience on the mission-field of New Guinea. In the old pagan days, which he and his father still had witnessed, there was a pagan temple near Menoekwari, called Rum Shrame. Here the evil spirits were invoked and as it was the place where only men and boys lived it was also a place where homosexual acts took place regularly: in every respect a den of iniquity. When the pagans became Christians the temple disappeared and twenty years later only the older men knew about it. At the beginning of this century an anthropological exhibition was held in Paris. The organizers of that exhibition asked Rev. Van Hasselt to send them a small replica of the former Rum Shram. Therefore Rev. Van Hasselt asked one of the older men, who had spent his boyhood in it, to make for him a small model of it. He consented to do so. As this sort of thing has to be done in secret, the man disappeared for some weeks into the forests and then came back with the small replica of the Rum Shram all wrapped up, so that others might not see it. He went to Mr. Van Hasselt and handed him what he had 'made. He was trembling all over and showed signs of great fear. "Here is what you wanted", he said, "I made it because you asked me to do so, but please, never ask me to do this again. All the terror and misery in which we lived when we were pagans, from which we were liberated when we became Christians and were baptized, came back to me when I made this. I never want to go through that experience again!"

A missionary friend of mine, on a trip to India, visited one of the pagan temples, where the object of worship was a phallus-symbol. When he was in that temple, the evil sphere prevailing there aroused in him such a fear and anxiety that he was glad when he could leave that place of darkness.

We read in the O.T. that after Achan had taken a part of the "devoted things" (Joshua 7) the people experienced that they were under a curse which had to be lifted first by means of punishment of the wrongdoer before God could be with them again. On the mission-field I have experienced similar things. Among our congregations in Eastern New Guinea there were two where a strange and strong feeling of depression settled on me every time I visited those two places. Nothing could be done about it as long as I stayed there and I did not have any clue at that time what caused it. Only the next day after I had left that village behind me, did the depression disappear. Some years later, when another missionary had taken my place there he wrote to me that it had turned out that several murders had been committed there; everyone knew about it but kept silent; these unconfessed crimes had put the Christians under the power of the forces of darkness again and you simply could feel it "in the air" when you visited that place. When many years later I told this to a collegue who had a lot of experience in these matters, he said: "This would not have happened to you if there had been two of you; that may have been one of the reasons that the Lord always sent out His disciples two by two. And if there had been three of you, no concentration of evil powers would have been able to make you feel uncomfortable."

Contact with the evil world is always dangerous, even if it is only in the imagination. In the latest edition of his book "Screwtape letters" S.C. Lewis relates in the preface that it was not for him a joy to write that book. "I was often asked or advised to add to the original Letters but for many years I felt not the least inclination to do so. Though I had never written anything more easily, I never wrote with less enjoyment." "But thought it was easy to twist one's mind into the diabolical attitude, it was not fun, not for long. The strain produced a sort of spiritual cramp. The world in which I had to project myself while I spoke through Screwtape was all dust, grit, thirst and itch. Every trace of beauty, freshness and geniality had to be excluded. It almost smothered me before it was done. It would have smothered my readers if I had prolonged it." Therefore both Karl Barth and Dr. Miskotte warn us not to give much attention to this evil world; after all, the only interest that we as Christians have in them is that they be cast out. But we have to know the danger and be on our guard against it. Soren Kierkegaard made the same experience. In one of his books he describes a man who is the personification of evil: John the Seducer. But later on Kierkegaard wrote that when he imagined such a person that, his mind was filled with unspeakable terror and anguish. It is easily understandable why this is so.

Deliberate contact severely punished

Direct and deliberate contact with the world of evil is often punished promptly and finally. Dr. Kurt E. Koch, who has made an extensive study of these matters ("Seelsorge und Occultismus") relates that a minister in Germany, who for some time had made an extensive study of spiritualist practices one day wanted to experience himself what it actually was. He made contact with a group of spiritualists and obtained permission to be present at one. of their "seances". As usual the spirits of deceased persons were invoked which delivered their "messages" and revealed "secrets". When everything was over, the minister walked home, feeling not a bit different than he did when he left his home that night a few hours earlier. But when, before going to bed, he tried to pray he found to his horror that it was impossible. There was no contact with God at all; he simply felt empty and silly when he wanted to pray. He thought that it, would pass but the next day it was the same and when he tried to read the Bible he discovered that the Bible did not make sense to him anymore, he might as well have read Grimm's Fairy Tales. He asked for a few weeks of furlough which were granted to him, hoping that after this time he would be all right again, but nothing changed. He was obliged to resign from the ministry and seek other work. That a man, set apart for the work of God, ordained to the ministry of the Word and the Sacraments, had deliberately sought and made contact with the evil world was obviously considered by God to be such a serious offense that right away God had cut off all contact with him, but he did not perceive that terrible state of affairs the moment it happened but only afterwards, when he tried to pray or read the Bible. And it is greatly to be feared that this state of affairs was final. King Saul of Israel, "the anointed one", when he discovered that God did not speak to him anymore on account of his crimes, committed the last final sin when he made use of a female medium to learn the future by invoking the spirit of Samuel.

The only One Whom the devils fear is Christ the Lord

In the beautiful hymn "Be still my soul" we read the lines:

"Be still my soul, the waves and winds still know His Voice Who ruled them while He dwelt below."

But that not only the waves and winds, but no less the demons still know Him Whom they feared when He dwelt below, may be clear from the following events.

About fifty years ago the Utrecht Missionary Society had ordered Rev. Fortgens to go and investigate the possibilities for mission work in the Sula Islands. One day he set out by boat from the island of Halmahera where he lived to visit the villagers which were located on the eastern part of the island. On account of the season, when strong western winds make landings on the eastern shore dangerous, he had to embark on the western shore and walk a whole day hill up hill down to reach the inhabited part of the island. That very same day a great pagan festival was to take place in the eastern part. As usual the evil spirits were invoked by the priests (shamans) to take possession of the mediums so that the will of the spirits might be known.

Everything was done according to age old custom, over and over again, but nothing happened; the evil spirits simply did not appear, something which had never happened before and the pagans went home to their various villages. But when in the evening, exhausted and bone tired, the missionary arrived in one of the eastern villages, the pagans said: "No wonder the spirits refused to come: the preacher of the Word of God was on our island." That no one knew about the presence of the missionary on the island and that he was still hours and hours away did not matter; the mere fact that he was present on the island was enough to prevent the evil spirits to appear.

Baptism: sign and seal of Christ

That Baptism is a reality in the spiritual world - a mighty and irrevocable act of God - and not at all a demonstration of our faith and our decision for Christ is often better understood by the evil spirits than. by Christians.

Another experience from the mission- field of New Guinea clearly shows this.

In Biak (an island north of the mainland of New Guinea) after decades of hard resistance against the Gospel, the movement towards Christianity had started; hundreds of men and women were instructed in the Christian faith. The missionary went around to baptize those who had given proof that they understood what it means to be a Christian. In one of the villages the missionary had examined the candidates for baptism. Among them was a young man who hardly knew anything about the Christian faith. In the discussion afterwards the missionary said that in his opinion the young man had to take another 6 months of instruction: he could be baptized as soon as he knew more of the Word of God than he did. But the native minister and the elders said, "We understand what you mean, his knowledge is poor indeed. Yet we urge you to baptize him. When there is any work to be done for the congregation, he is the first one to show up and the last one to leave. His parents are dead and he is educated by his grandmother who is a witch-doctor and every time he wants to attend catechism, wants to pray or read the Bible, she invokes the evil spirits to disturb him and that is indeed what happens. If you baptize him, the power of the evil spirits over him will be broken and when next time you visit us you will be surprised how much he will know. The missionary consented; the young man was baptized and it did not last long indeed before his knowledge of the Word of God surpassed that of many. The evil spirits clearly discerned the sign and seal of Christ that had been set upon him and did no longer dare to disturb the spirit of one who bore the seal of Christ.

(To be continued)

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