11. A SA�ance in Bolivia
CHAPTER ELEVEN A SÉANCE IN BOLIVIA As a pioneer missionary in districts where the people had no medical attention, I did what I could under the circumstances. The Lord wonderfully blessed this ministry, although I am not a doctor.
One day I was called to see a young man in a home where I had often prescribed for various sicknesses. He had suffered serious attacks, but as I questioned and prayed over the matter, the Lord gave me no light and I refused to prescribe for him. A few weeks later he worsened, and believing he was going to die the family called the priest. However, the sick man said, “I will have nothing to do with the priest, but you may call Don Roberto.” (He had previously attended a few of our Gospel meetings).
I gladly went, explained the Gospel to him and prayed, and since I had been invited I returned every day. I heard from other sources that his married sister had said, “It is a strange thing, but every time Don Roberto visits, my brother is quieter.” Up to that time, I had never seen him in one of the attacks.
One sultry afternoon I found him lying in bed making a wild guttural sound. I said to myself, “Is it possible that this fellow is demon possessed?” He soon quieted down, and I said nothing of my suspicions for I was not certain of the diagnosis.
Shortly after that he was taken to Cochabamba.
After some months had passed, I heard that he had returned to Totora. At the same time a liberally minded businessman in town asked what I thought of communicating with the dead. I told him frankly that it was of the Devil. Then he told me that an Italian had arrived in town and was holding séances every night. When I asked him who the medium was, he named the same young man I had been visiting. When I said it was an evil spirit and not the spirit of the dead, he said, “It couldn’t be, because they called up the spirit of a greatly respected bishop.” They said he talked about God and prayed. I said, “There is one certain thing. He did not pray in the name of the Lord Jesus.”
He said, “How do you know?”
I answered, “Because a demon never would pray in the name of the Lord Jesus, and only through His name do we have access to the Father.”
He said, “I have a friend who took down the prayer,” and the next day he brought me a copy of it. It read something like this: “Almighty God, have mercy on these poor people who know nothing of charity, are completely selfish. They know nothing of charity.”
I said, “You see, he didn’t pray in the name of the Lord Jesus.”
Some time passed, and then a delegation came and invited me to attend one of their séances. I said, “The spirit never will work in my presence.”
“Oh, yes!” they said. “He (the spirit) gave us permission last night to invite you.”
I promised to go on the condition that I would have the freedom to say anything I cared to say and ask any questions. They arranged to have the séance begin at 7:30, and I was to come at 8:00.
I spent time that afternoon in prayer, and knocked at the door promptly at 8:00. The medium was in a trance and said, “The minister is at the door.” It is interesting to note that they never call us a minister here.
Then I was ushered into the roomful of people, and after the customary polite greeting, the Italian who was in charge said that I was wrong in my thought about their meetings, and in order to convince me he offered to tell my past.
“No,” I said, “I didn’t come for that.”
There was a vacant chair in the room. They invited me to sit in it and without anyone touching it I would be suspended to the ceiling. I said, “No, I didn’t come for any such demonstration either.”
They were ready then to proceed with the séance. I believed that by appealing to the blood of Christ they would not be able to proceed. The lights were put out and as we took hold of hands, the Italian invoked Almighty God to send the spirit of the man whose name he called. I, for my part, was trying to recall the verse, “The blood of Jesus Christ God’s Son cleanses from all sin.” My mind was blank, and it was with great difficulty that I could at last repeat this verse inaudibly. To my surprise, the medium made the same strange noise deep in his throat, and then began to address us in a different tone of voice and as a different person from the one whose body he was using.
Later, I came to the conclusion that while demons may influence us they cannot read our thoughts, and for that reason repeating the verse in my mind had no effect. The demon then said, “Good evening! We are very glad to have the minister with us. He has done many kindnesses to this body (speaking of course of the body of the young man he was using) and we are grateful for it.” As we stood facing each other, a great fear came over me. I trembled as never before, and the thought came to me, “You have heard of demons; you are now in the presence of one; since he hates the Lord he hates you,” and I feared that he would do me bodily harm.
Then I remembered, “True, the demon is in him, but greater is He who is in you than he who is in him.” Fear left me. I became calm and my strength returned.
Again he said, “We are very thankful for all you have done for this body (making a distinction between the spirit that was speaking and the body he was using), but we have this against you - you don’t believe in the Virgin.”
He continued, “God has sent me.”
I asked him, “Do you believe that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh?”
I demanded a direct answer from him, and to my surprise, finally he lied and said that he did believe. That disturbed me because we read, “Try the spirits whether they are of God...
Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.” As I thought it over later, I realized that he had not made a confession but a statement to mislead me, after I had held him to a direct answer to the question.
Then I asked if he believed that salvation was by faith and faith alone.
“Yes,” he said, “we believe that salvation is by faith and works” - another doctrine of demons.
Nothing I could say would move him from this declaration.
Finally I asked, “Do you believe that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin?”
He would not answer me, but said, “I must be going.”
He left the young man so helpless that two men had to sustain him until his own spirit took possession of his faculties. When they called another spirit, they did not include me in the circle of clasped hands. A spirit that was an entirely different personality responded and with a different tone of voice.
They called a third spirit. He was distinct, from his mannerism and his tone of voice. With great emphasis he almost shouted, “There is an enemy here. I will have nothing to do with this.”
They saw that it was impossible to go on with their séance. I opened my Bible and read from
I finished my testimony, bade them good night and left. The next morning I was told that after my departure they called another spirit. He came but was beyond their control. As they put it, they had a “tempest.” The spirit screeched, swung chairs over his head and terrorized the audience. The women crouched in the corner while the brave men fled to the patio. When they finally were able to dispel the spirit, he had so exhausted the energy of the man that he was confined to bed for days. When I told the family that their brother was demon possessed and that we would cast him out in the name of the Lord, they would not permit me to see him. They denied my statement and said, “This is a fit from God.”
They hoped that after they had perfected the séances they would take him to Buenos Aires and recuperate their fortunes, using him in spiritist séances. They were never able to carry out their plans, for strange as it may seem the spirits had no intention of helping them financially, and when they tried to collect money for their séances the spirit would not appear. All we could do was to pray for the young man, and God delivered him as we prayed in faith that He would rebuke the evil spirit through Christ who conquered him on Calvary.
It was interesting to note that the spirits got possession of him little by little as he began with table tipping.
Bolivian Indian Mission Verne D. Roberts Bolivia, South America