Interactions with God #23
I don't remember how long I was in Houston until number 23 happened. It had to have been at least 3 to six months. I think it was during the spring or summer of 1985.
As I said earlier, the ministry was to reach out to teen prostitutes who were selling themselves on the streets of Westheimer and Montose in Houston. However, every now and again we would get a call to help runaways. So, when we got this call, I was sent with two others, who came off the streets, to go pick these kids up.
Now, a runaway situation is really tricky. The kids may have run away because their lives were in danger, or simply because they didn't like an 11:00pm curfew. I have seen kids on the streets for both reasons and quite a few in between. We didn't want to take kids away from good parents, but we didn't want to leave them in a bad situation either. Each case called for caution and careful investigation.
In this case, there were two kids. A girl named Diana and her brother Jeff (don't remember his real name). They had run away from home citing abuse. They were staying at a friends house and had been there for a few weeks by this time. Diana was 16 and her brother was 13. Both were into the punker scene so they looked the part... you know, shaved head on one side, semi-gothic bizarre clothing. Think Cindy Lauper and you get the idea.
While there, I had a strange conversation with Diana, who told me that the house was haunted and she could see and hear the spirit that lived in the house. Yea, I know, could have been a load of hooey, but its not like I could just say so at the moment, so I listened to her tale. This house was not an old house, no, in fact it was a new house...aren't haunted houses always old... uh, no they are not.
So, here I am talking to Diana and telling her about Jesus. That is what a good Christian does, especially one that is trying to reach runaways. Every now and again, when doing this kind of thing, you end up talking to one person, while another is opposing what you say in a three way conflicting conversation. These situations are really difficult even if you only want to win at least one of them over. Never before had I ever had a conversation like this with one person, myself and well, a demon. Yet, that is what happened.
I know, you don't believe in that kind of thing. Suit yourself, but you don't argue with me over it, you argue with God's word. Me, I wasn't all that sure at first if the girl was just being goofy. She wasn't. It didn't take long to realize I was dealing with a real live entity and he wasn't very nice. While talking with her, I told her about Jesus and his offer of forgiveness and eternal life. You know, all the good stuff. All the while, she is telling me what this being is saying. “He says you are lying”. “He says you are stupid”...etc. Was the strangest witnessing effort I have ever done.
I started to get irritated. I was thinking that the girl was probably nuts. Although, I could definitely sense a strange presence off to the left, halfway up the stairway to the second floor of the house. Yet, I still wasn't convinced that the feeling wasn't just in my head. Either way, the imaginary, or real, entity was being rude and I got uppity. I said to her, “Well, if he is so powerful, what is he doing up hiding the stairs?”
I tell you, that feeling you get when something creepy is in the room. You know, the one where the hair on the back of your neck goes up. Well, multiply that by at least ten. Yes, that was what I felt. It was moving, this presence. I could feel it. It was moving straight toward me. Her next comment made the hair on my neck even stand straighter...”Here he comes”. Great. I am going to get my butt kicked again by an invisible being.
Realizing my arrogance before God, I quickly apologized to him. I asked him what he wanted me to do... something I should have done to start with. He simply said “Read my word”. OK, two problems here. One, he said it so calmly and quietly, no urgency at all. Second, read where? So, I asked him “where?” He simply repeated “Read my word”. OK, I guess he means anywhere. So, I picked up my bible, which I had put on a coffee table in front of me. I opened the book, not picking any spot in particular, and read out loud. Now, the funny thing is that the passage didn't matter at all. It wasn't a passage about demons. It wasn't a passage about the power of God or a threat to the devil. No, it was just a passage about Jesus going here or there. Frankly, I don't remember at all which passage it was, because as I said, the content of the passage really had nothing to do with the situation. Just the fact that it was the word of God was all that mattered and it was effective...really effective. As soon as I read the passage, the feeling changed from threatening to well, gone. Diana was freaked out. She immediately jumped up and shouted “He's gone!” This being apparently, left the house at a sprint. Now, this girl, seeing this being affected so by a simple passage, began to believe what I was saying. She got saved that day.
Oh, but the interaction doesn't stop there, no, in fact this is where it got more interesting. The girl and her brother agreed to come back with me to stay at the ministry house while we sorted out the mess with her parents. Now, no longer resistant, the girl and her brother took me on a tour of this "haunted" house. As we went through the house, I passed the master bedroom. Now, I didn't know the people who owned the house or what they were in to, but clearly, they were into something. That hair on the neck feeling hit me again as I stood in the doorway to the master bedroom. I told the girl, “This room, there is definitely something wrong in this room”. She said, that that room was where most of the “sightings” occurred.
This really happened. Sorry to burst anyone’s nice little pleasant bubble of denial, but it did happen. I was standing there for only half a minute or so, looking over the room while fighting off the creepy feeling. It was a normal master bedroom, king sized bed, night stands, dressers and pictures on the walls. On the night stand to the left of the bed was a china doll. This doll was probably a foot and a half tall within a glass case...a totally enclosed glass case...top...bottom...all sides... I looked at the doll. The creepy feeling began to increase. Then the feeling goes off the charts. The earrings on the totally enclosed china doll, started to turn. First they just turn, then they speed up to full on spinning.
You know, now, I would probably react a bit differently. I might even start laughing at the audacity of a broken being to challenge the Spirit of God so. However, at this time, I was still fairly clueless. I quickly turned from the room saying “OK, you can have this room”. We left shortly afterward.
Yes, I was a big baby.