The Exorcist's Bestiary

The demons tended to hit them hard overnight, so I checked in each morning to see how they were doing. One particular morning they did not seem themselves, so I gave them a call to see what was up, but they did not want to talk. Eventually, I broke through their wall, and they told me they had found my book.

Puzzled by this response, I pressed them for more information. “The book you wrote about how you hate leading me through this deliverance process, but you do it because you have to,” they responded.

My heart and my mind shattered into a million pieces at that moment. I had written no such thing! I had no such feelings! I loved watching God bring freedom to this participant and participating in the process! I explained that no such book existed, but they would not listen. They said that someone handed them a copy that morning at church, and they already looked through it.

I had been slandered by their demons, who had somehow found a way to install a false memory in them while they were sleeping to get the participant to stop working with me. I had to work hard to prove that this false memory never happened. “Who handed you the book?” I asked. They couldn’t remember. I pressed them in every way I could until they realized that something was off. With much effort, they were able to see the truth and understand that they had been lied to.

This was just the start. The demons had found a new technique to sew chaos into the exorcism process, and they used it several more times. Each new false memory was heartbreaking for me and we had to get creative in fighting back. We occasionally recorded a voice memo saying, “The date is such and such, and this is our last conversation of the night. We both agree that our friendship is good and nothing bad is happening.” If they woke up the next day with a false memory, I could play that back and remind them that it was the last time we talked. They’d hear both of our voices on the memo explaining that nothing was wrong and more quickly believe the truth.

This situation taught me two things: (1) Spiritual warfare can be tricky. Be prayerful and strategic in how you fight back. (2) Slander is heartbreaking. Defamation of character is no joke. How often does God have to face slander and have his heart break when I let demons inform me about his character?