Unwanted Visitors

Thank you for taking the time to read about my experience.

I am a follower of Jesus and was raised in a very charismatic church. Because of the charismatic upbringing in the church and at home angels, demons, spiritual warfare and things of that sort were talked about a lot. At a very young age I was exposed to the belief that there is a constant battle between good and evil in the spiritual world. With that said, while I have never questioned my faith, I have changed some of my views since my childhood experiences in the church. I say that because I feel (just stating my opinion) that some churches or Christians tend to over spiritualize things and the following story is not that... It is a real, true and the most frightening thing that has ever happened to me.

I was about 17 years old and my mother, younger sister and a few of her friends and I were attending a Christian youth conference in Portland, Oregon. At the end of one of the sessions there was a time of prayer and our group went down to the front of the sanctuary to join in the prayer time. While we were down there a young woman approached my mother and asked my mom to pray for her. As we started to pray the girl began to show signs of demon possession... Speaking in a man's growl-like voice, convulsing, moaning like an animal. Some of the leaders of the conference noticed what was happening, came over and assisted in praying for the girl. After an hour or so my mother took my sister, her friends and I aside and said it was time to leave. We all got into the car and started to drive home, discussing and praying about what had just happened. We got home and went to bed, my sister, her friends and I sharing a room.

Sometime in the middle of the night I got up to use the restroom. I walked to the bathroom kept the door open (a house full of girls we didn't really worry about modesty in the middle of the night). As I was sitting there I heard some low-toned whispers coming from the entryway of the house. My parent's home is a split-level house, when you come in the front door there is an 8'x 4' landing where you can either go upstairs or down. I distinctly heard two voices but it seemed as though they were speaking a different language. At first I thought it was just my grandmother's television, she lived in an apartment downstairs and slept with the TV on every night. Just as I was about to flush the toilet I heard the voices even louder and some footsteps and rustling on the landing... I knew it wasn't my grandma's TV. I was becoming very frightened and hesitated on leaving the bathroom in fear that I would see whatever I was hearing. Just then I heard these things fly up the stairs with a sort of whoosh but what was even more frightening is that one of them had run something across the iron railing along the stairs on the way up. It was like when you run a stick along a chain-link fence but dramatically louder and heavier sounding as the railing was iron, this sound couldn't be made by a human hand because the iron is too thick and strong to be moved. Also, it was in a split second...ttthhhhrrroonnngggg...up the stairs. At that, I slammed the bathroom door shut and locked it and just stood there frozen listening to these things walk around my living room and kitchen. Two sets of footsteps and two very distinct low-toned voices speaking in a different language... One I had never heard or recognized. Every now and then they would make their way toward the hall but never stepped into the hallway. I honestly have no idea how long I was there standing in the bathroom... It seemed like an eternity.

Finally, after mustering enough courage I turned my body toward to wall and started pounding on the wall and calling my mother... My parent's room shared a wall with the bathroom. I certainly wasn't brave enough to leave the bathroom so I just called to her until she came to the bathroom door. Even then I wouldn't open the door to her... I was terrified that the things I had heard were just outside that door. After much prodding she finally got me to open the door. She took me to my bed and prayed with me and eventually I fell back to sleep being emotionally exhausted from the experience.

The next morning we all woke up and my dad made one of his famous breakfasts... As we all ate my dad mentioned that he had had a horrible nightmare that night (I had never heard my dad talk about any dreams) and everyone else in the house had stated that they too had experience horrible dreams that night. I didn't share with any of them what had happened to me until years later.

Even ten years later I am not sure why I experienced what I did. I am not afraid anymore and have since then had other experiences like that one. I think if anything, it strengthened my faith and has prepared me for the other times I have witnessed or experience events having to do with spiritual presences... Good or evil.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story... Feel free to comment.