I went through the abject terror and trauma of a person close to me cutting themselves with knives and scissors and sharp implements until they bled and bled and caused themselves much harm.  Their eventual intent was suicide.  It began quietly and quickly built to an out-of-control situation that affected several lives.

Twelve months later the scars are there but the damage could have been much worse.  Thankfully, God mercifully intervened and fixed everything as suddenly as all the problems began.

Recently, as I did my usual Bible reading, I was surprised when reading an account in Mark 5:1-20 about a demon-possessed man who was healed by Jesus Christ.  I had read this passage quite a number of times previously, but this time one verse jumped out at me as if reading it for the first time.

Mark 5:5 states, “And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones.” Could this be the very first documented account of cutting/self-harm?  It may be.  Does it mean that everyone who cuts themselves is demon-possessed?  I’m really not sure.

All I can write about is the case I encountered.  The person clearly was not themselves.  They initially were very frightened and eventually confided that they had something inside of them trying to control them.  As days and weeks progressed, the behaviors became more overt and obvious to the point where one could not simply ignore it.  The person was hysterical at times while at others like an empty vessel unable to function who no longer had any belief in praying to God.  They stopped praying just three days before this all began (there were additional problems that began many months prior).

Demons are very real

Initially I was shocked with the situation and in a state of paralysis.  I lost weeks of my life living in a daze wondering what to do to help this person.  I sought help from psychologists, psychiatrists, hospitals, many professionals who only deal with this sort of thing.  Some of them admitted to knowing about demons but they always relied on medications.  For some reason they would say that medications interfere with the process somehow.  Eventually I relented and allowed medications.  It did help somewhat.

Then things escalated out of control and it got to the point where police and authorities became involved.

Throughout the whole experience I did pray and ask God for help but it wasn’t until I really dug down deep and implored God to do something because no one else could do anything that helped that I saw a change.  I had to verbalize to God that I knew wholeheartedly that He was the only One who had the power to change things and heal this person.  My faith was always unwavering but I learnt a very hard lesson that I had a history of looking to people and others for physical help when what was needed was going to God first and foremost for a supernatural solution to a supernatural problem.

Blessings of spiritual peace and healing

The biggest blessing God gave to me was the peace I experienced throughout this trial of terror.  I cannot put the deep level of peace He gave me into words or describe it aside from saying that I knew inside of me that God’s Spirit within me was greater than all those demonic influences no matter how many there were, just like in the example given in Mark 5:9 where mention is made of a legion of demons.  God is so incredibly powerful He could crush legions of legions.  This is nothing for God.  This is just inconsequential.  His power is absolute!

I am ashamed of myself now.  It was the hardest trial experienced to date and I cannot imagine experiencing much worse. If I can share anything at all, it is that God must literally come first in everything. Prayer is so powerful, more than I had ever realized before.  Pray with belief.  Ask God to help your unbelief like the man in Mark 9:23-24.  Interestingly enough, this account deals with another unclean spirit.

Just because we do not see demons doesn’t mean they are not there.  We know the earth is saturated with them--the fallen angels that were banished here along with Satan (Jude 6; Revelation 12:4).

This trial came out of nowhere at a time in my life where I was joyously content (something Satan always tries to destroy). 

Everyone must pray every day for protection from spiritual enemies as seen in the Model Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13.  Don’t leave even a crack in your armor but put on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18) in order to have the necessary defense against evil.

For more information about Satan, who is extremely skilled in flying under the radar, read our free Bible study aid Is There Really a Devil?