I was visiting today with my youth pastor and we were talking about angels and demons and all that. And I relayed a story with him that I had forgotten about for some time.
My step-father, Steve Partin, (he is no longer my step-father but took on that role when I was 12 years old and held that until my mid twenties) is the one who actually shared this with me.
When he was young he grew up in a difficult environment. His father was an alcoholic prone to violence when he drank. His step-mother was more of a gentle-natured lady. But from time to time when his Steve's dad was drinking he would beat on his step-mom and Steve too (if he was in the vicinity).
So his home life wasn't good. Well, there were a couple of times where Steve told me about his step-mom was convinced that the home they lived in was haunted. She had seen and/or felt spirits that were "around" that place.
Their life at the time centered around caring for Brahma cattle and working the orange grove. So even though Steve was young, he was a fairly strong lad for his age. And that good old farm-style living was what that came from.
One particular night, Steve said he remembered laying in bed and hearing his dad getting louder and louder with his step-mom. Of course, he had been drinking and by the tone of his dad's voice he could tell that this was only going to have one inevitable conclusion.
So Steve, being a pretty strong young man, had already confronted his dad on a couple of separate occasions resulting in Steve keeping his step-mom from being hit, but Steve almost got killed in the process.
Listening, as he lay there, he was growing madder and madder at the situation. He decided in his heart he was going to stop his dad and not let him hit his step-mom. So he tried to get up.
But, and this is where the story gets strange, he felt as though he was being pinned down on his bed. He tried to get up but the feeling of being held down grew even stronger. He couldn't move no matter how hard he tried.
Then he felt a dead weight on his chest and he had to just sit there in the dark and cry as his father spun into a drunken rage and beat on his step-mom once again downstairs.
Way back when Steve originally told me this story, he was convinced it was the ghost who haunted that home that held him in his bed that night. I'm not so convinced.
I believe this happened to my step-dad, but I don't believe in ghosts. I believe that there was most certainly darkness in that home and that demonic forces literally were swimming with pleasure at all the dysfunction that took place there.
And the fact that Steve was going to stop his father that night means that those demons would not have been able to have all the fun that they ended up having as his dad beat his step-mom again. I believe they held him there. They stopped him.
I believe that demons can and do such things from time to time given the right circumstance...what do you think?
2 comments:
Hi Pastor Mike. Great Tale. I think a lot of strange things that happen could be related to demon activitiy,,, like some forms of mental illness. Thanks for the inspiration. Visit my blog in a couple of days and you might see a story about Divine intervention. Deirdre.
I didn't use to believe in demons, but I do now. They are certainly real and Ben Alexander reminded us of that fact when he visited a couple of years back.....
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