China Insight Newsletter - November/December 2007

The Powers of Darkness

by Mildred Cable (cont’d from previous issue)
edited by Tony Lambert, Director for China Research, OMF International

A Chinese evangelist was called to a woman, the terror of the entire district. After prayer, the evil spirit departed in obedience to the command. A few weeks later, after yielding to violent temper, she fell into a worse state than before. The missionary was begged to go himself, and as soon as he entered the room, she threw herself down, rolling about in seemingly great agony. The Chinese helper, Mr. Li, rebuked the spirit saying: “We ordered you to leave. Why have you returned?” “I could find no dwelling-place,” came the reply, in the curious spirit voice, “Find me a place to rest and I will leave at once.” “We have come,” said Li, “to command you to leave, not to find you a place.” At this the woman laughed and clapped her hands and in the struggle it seemed as if the powers of evil were in the ascendancy. As she still chuckled with amusement, Li said, ”Let us sing a hymn,” and immediately the voice replied, ”I, too, can sing!” and shouted some theatrical songs. Mr. Li then prayed, but there was seemingly no power and the voice also prayed mockingly. The missionary then intervened, saying, “I have not come to hold conversation with demons,” and authoritatively commanded the demon to leave her. There was a struggle, and she fell down unconscious.

She came to herself in a normal condition and apologized for her state of undress. Faithfully and sternly he rebuked her for her sin and giving place to the devil. She recognized her sin and was from that time a changed woman.

An evil spirit has been known to claim a young girl as its possession, forbidding her to marry under severe threats. In one such case a demon, driven from a man who had become a Christian, went to a village eight miles away and possessed a young woman. Speaking through her, it forbade her marriage and manifested itself in the same manner as it had done in the man, compelling her to continuously rub one side of her face and head until there was no hair left. When questioned as to where it came from, the demon gave the man’s name and when asked why it left him, it replied, “I have been turned out! For that man has become a Christian!”

Two methods of exorcism are used by the sorcerers—defiance and bribery. The Christian method is that of commanding the evil spirit in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to release the victim.

Some have been set free from the power of a tormenting spirit who have not been subsequently kept free, through refusing to yield control to the Holy Spirit. Pastor Hsi, who well understood the conflict in the heavenly places, in earlier days would cast out demons from all the possessed who were brought to him, but in later years as experience grew, he refused to do so unless idols were destroyed and he had reason to believe there was a sincere desire to obey the commands of God. He doubtless saw, as others have done, the futility of temporary relief during which, in that mysterious way so graphically described in the scriptures, the demon wanders in waterless places, joining himself to others more evil than he.

Pastor Hsi learned to distinguish between the greater and the lesser demons. With the latter he would deal summarily, but not so with the former. “This kind,” he would say, “goeth not out but by prayer and fasting”; and thus he would prepare himself for an encounter with the powers of evil.

Young believers, impressed by the pastor’s command over unclean spirits and eager for similar power, were in serious danger, as in the instances reported in the Acts of the Apostles. Pastor Hsi urged them not to undertake the casting out of demons lightly. He had been faced with the awful realities of the spirit world, and on one occasion at least, by reason of a thoughtless word, had been troubled by the very demon he had cast out.

The experiences recorded here may be unfamiliar to many readers, and some will doubtless think that madness, hysteria or epilepsy may account for them. To such I would suggest the following points for consideration:

First, the striking, detailed resemblance between the cases now seen in China and those recorded in scripture;

Second, the complete and lasting restoration resulting from prayer and from the command in the name of the Lord Jesus that the demon should depart;

Third, the appalling sense of the reality of the conflict with the evil one at the moment of supreme test as the missionary is called upon to prove his personal faith and to give the command which shall decide whether God or demon remains conqueror on the field.
When the promise was given by Christ that his witnesses should cast out demons, it was with the foreknowledge that such equipment was essential to those who obeyed his command to disciple the nations. Let the signs following be a reminder to weary warriors that the Captain of our salvation is actively leading his army; and to the indifferent and half-hearted who profess and call themselves Christians, let it be a matter of serious reflection that there exist churches in many lands the members of which have not lost their first love and faith and against whom the enemy has come with his whole strength.

A feeble conflict may provoke a feeble resistance, but it behooves the aggressive warrior to prepare for the fight of his life when he invades the enemy’s territory, where the conflict is not with “mere flesh and blood, but with the despotisms, the empires, the forces that control and govern this dark world.”—THE END

Postscript

Mildred Cable had a colorful missionary career. During her epic travels across the Gobi desert in Xinjiang she came across further evidence of the demonic. Her booklet, the bulk of which I have re-published in these two issues of China Insight, was originally published in 1920 but still has relevance to China today.

I remember some years ago meeting two young women doctors in a city in east China who were active house-church leaders. They told me that in the wards of the government hospital they sometimes met cases of demon possession, the symptoms of which they clearly distinguished from ordinary mental illness. They felt frustrated, as they were usually unable to pray for the sufferer in the required manner.

In Guangzhou, Pastor Lin Xiangao (Lamb) introduced a demure young woman who had been possessed by demons following involvement in idol worship, burning incense to local gods. She heard voices following her down the street. Over a period of time he and the church prayed for her and she was fully delivered. Yet Pastor Lamb insists he is not charismatic and is against the extreme teachings current in certain circles overseas which are now disrupting the church in China.

More recently, Christians in a small house church in south China prayed for the deliverance of a girl prior to leading her to Christ. It seemed part and parcel of their normal method of evangelism and was conducted with no fuss or exaggeration. Idol worship is still rife in this very traditional area, and other young Christians talked of their direct experience of demon possession prior to conversion or among their family or friends.

John Nevius, who was a distinguished missionary in China, wrote what is still a standard work on demon possession. More recently, Chuck Lowe of OMF has published his book, Territorial Spirits and World Evangelization. (Christian Focus/OMF, 1998.) This is a sane biblical critique of some of the extreme teachings now currently being marketed under the heading of “strategic level spiritual warfare.” The demonic is very real, but the power of Christ is even greater. Let us be certain that everything we do, even in our prayers, is thoroughly based on God’s word alone.

Copyright OMF International 2007