NOT EXACTLY EXORCISM

Ben H. Swett
Bethany Christian Church
16 August 1992

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.


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