During our Sunday morning worship service, I was suddenly surrounded
by a whole batch of spirits. They attached themselves all over my face,
very rapidly, like a lot of little contacts or touches. This confused me
considerably.
These particular spirits were not evil--far from it--but they were gabby
and noisy and happy and yakking continuously. I tried to get out of their
influence, but was not able to do so. I went through the rest of the worship
service, including my prayer at the altar as a serving elder, in a very
noisy spiritual environment.
When I got home they were still there and still yakking, so I went to my
office in the basement to pray. I sat down, got as quiet as I could, and,
like a scuba-diver swimming for the surface, struggled up out of their influence
and asked the Lord, "What is this?"
Through the Lord's messengers I got a very laconic reply: "CWF"--plus
a mental image that was like looking back down the aisle from the front
of a tour-bus full of Christian Women's Fellowship (CWF) ladies!
I realized that I would not know what to do with a busload of CWF ladies
under any circumstances, so I asked the Lord for guidance.
The thought that popped into my mind was very simple, and I followed it.
I re-entered that noisy spiritual atmosphere and said rather loudly, "Alright,
you Christians, listen up!" There was silence around me. "We're
all going to sing a song, and you all know it." I started singing "Swing
low, sweet chariot," and they sang it with me. They sang better than
I did--which shouldn't surprise anyone who knows me. When we finished the
line, "I looked over Jordan, and what did I see, comin' for to carry
me home? A band of angels, comin' after me, comin' for to carry me home,"
I suddenly stopped singing and said, "Look up, ladies. It's happening
now."
Immediately, I heard a chorus of exclamations of surprise and delight. They
all went up to meet the angels--but as they went, one paused, turned and
looked back at me, and said, Oh, thank you so much! Bye-bye. And
then they were gone.
Later, while thinking about this experience, it occurred to me that we often
sing, "Blest be the ties that bind our hearts in Christian love; the
fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above." Those words are
literally true. The "ties that bind" are caring-connections, and
a network of caring-connections is a cluster of souls. But unless someone
in a cluster of souls is actually obeying the first and greatest commandment--love
God supremely--the whole cluster may be bound together but not to God.