MICHAEL'S DEMONS

One of the final "straws that broke the camel's back", that led to my leaving the hospital for good, was the undaunting task of performing an amateur exorcism on a young man named Michael.

Michael, a young man in his late teens, had presented, through the ER, with symptoms of extreme pain, nausea, and headaches. His family stated that he had recently been on a year long church mission in Mexico and they feared he had contracted some sort of parasite or something. After extensive testing for everything imaginable, Michael's medical state was unexplainable. All of his tests were negative. The hospital opted to keep him overnight anyway for further tests and observation.

I, at that time, was a Phlebotomy Technician. It was my job to go in and collect Michael's blood for testing. When I entered the room, I immediately felt a weird sensation throughout my body. I could tell that something just wasn't right. His family proceeded to tell me of his mission trip and his symptoms. His mom stated that he had not been himself since he returned from Mexico. They also shared with me that he had been uttering another name this entire time as well, David. Something they hadn't shared with the hospital staff for fear of judgement. As I walked over to Michael's bed, I got goosebumps all over. I will never forget his face. It was as if he knew that my spirit was a threat to his. I watched his face morph into some sort of demonic state as his forehead crunched, his eyes became dark and glassy, and his mouth appeared to be somewhat of a gaping hole to nowhere. "Michael?" I said, "I am here to draw your blood. Your family told me you weren't feeling well after your trip. You want to talk about it?" Michael simply growled at me like a wolf seeking prey.

Catholic Encyclopedia

I turned to Michael's family, because I knew they were very religious, and asked them if they would mind giving me some private time with him. I told them that I wanted to pray over him. They were happy to oblige, and couldn't believe that someone, in this setting, would actually do this.

I must say, I was a little uneasy. After all, I had been thinking heavily about adjusting my own lifestyle and getting back into the church, but had made no significant steps toward doing so. I really didn't feel qualified to pray over this young man, but my heart and soul were compelled to. I asked one of the nurses assistant's to keep people out of this room for a short while, but she insisted on joining me. She suggested that two people coming together for the same purpose were better than one, as the Bible states. I was happy to have her.

She grabbed one of his hands and I grabbed the other. I asked him who was inside of him, and with a gut-wrenching voice, his response was "David". "There are three others here as well." He said, which unnerved me even more. However, it was too late to turn back now. I had to try and help Michael.

I began to vehemently pray over this young man, asking for his soul to be released, rebuking the demons and casting them back to Hell. The whole time I could feel his body jerking and hear him growling as if the demons inside of him were fighting hard to remain in control of his soul. As I closed my prayer, in Jesus' name, I looked up at him and found the most peaceful expression on his face. "Michael?" I said, "How are you feeling?"

"Tired." He responded. "Something's been really wrong with me lately." I told him that we had just come together to pray over him with his family's permission, and that he should be feeling much better now. I told him however, that he was still in a weakened state and that he had to remain prayerful on his own and continue to indulge in the word of God. He smiled at me, and I must say, compared to the initial response I had gotten from him, this felt amazing.

I summoned his family and continued on to draw his blood. I received hugs from everyone and went on to my next patient. I was quite a bit drained after this experience, but happy to have been there to help. I don't know why God chose me to provide this service on this day, especially when my own soul wasn't all the way right. However, I am honored to have been chosen nonetheless, and proud of being obedient.

I've never seen or heard from Michael or his family again. Wherever they are, I pray they are well and continuing to lean on each other and God for support.

Smooth talking, cold-blooded...man of God?

Yesterday I read an article that shed light on an Atlanta area pastor, Craig Lamar Davis, of Full Gospel Baptist Church who decided that it was ok to not only cheat on his wife with multiple partners in and out of his church, but also to spread his HIV infection in the process....all while continuing to preach the work of God. Now forgive me if I'm wrong, and granted I have only been saved and back in the church for one year, but I don't recall ANYWHERE in the Bible where adultery, hipocrisy, and infecting people with life threatening diseases is ok. Ok that last one is not in the Bible, but I am sure that some law of our Father covers that! How exactly do you use the church, its constituents, and the word of God as ploys in your sick and twisted plot to destroy people's lives? I don't believe that I would feel any better had he not claimed to be a man of God, but the fact that that was his facade literally makes me feel ill! I have absolutely no sympathy for a person with such low integral quality.

As for the ladies involved in this mess (most of them anyway), I maintain an extremely low level of sympathy for them as well. First of all, most of you are members of his church, which means that you were well aware of the fact that he was married. You come into the house of God, proclaiming to love Him, shouting Hallelujah and dancing around, all the while focusing on your true intention of nailing the pastor. Regardless of how smooth he came across, or how humble he seemed to be, adultery is adultery and sinful lust is just that...and God sees all...spoken and unspoken. Now I am not claiming to be perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but this is most certainly a situation I would have run from! One woman responded saying that she met him online and that he was just so engaging and portrayed all of the qualities that any God-fearing woman wanted. He made you want to give it up to him on the 3rd or 4th date, is what she said. Really? Red Flag!! A true man of God would not be trying to get into your panties, and if you let him then there are demons you have to deal with! Now maybe this particular young lady wasn't a member of his church, and since she met him online, maybe she didn't know he was married, etc..., so yes, I have a little more sympathy and compassion for her, but come on ladies...we have got to make better decisions and start caring more for ourselves. I mean if we don't, who will?

Now on the flip side, where does this leave his wife in all of this? Is she just an innocent bystander? Should she forgive his behavior? Is she to blame for his behavior? What if this happened to you?
What say you?


Sidebar...this was almost the plot for one of my next books! Wow...then I hear about it in the news!