Doug Tales 152: Paralyzed

Fear or gratitude? What will we choose to think and feel when we face evil, even if it paralyzes us physically? Doug Mendenhall shares an early experience of his learning about the reality of evil in Possibilities: Lessons From the Spirit (2002) on pages 145-147. (Many years later, Doug would clarify in his April 19, 2020 blog post, “Really Know Him,” that Satan himself rarely bothers most people “and will send someone or thing of much less power.”)

In October of 2001, Denise, my oldest daughter, and myself were invited to go up north to do a meeting. This was a chance to go farther north than we ever had, so we took the opportunity and went. I must admit that I had other motives for going. The people that had invited us were quite interesting. Julie could see spirits, good and bad. She’s had this gift her whole life. It had gone away for the most part after having kids. But recently this gift had started to return. It was a double-edged sword for her. She enjoyed the gift and didn’t enjoy it. At the University, she and Tom, her husband, would be walking down the sidewalk and she would jump into his arms. It wasn’t his animal magnetism that had caused it but a “devil” or evil spirit had come at her and she jumped to get away. When they were first married, Tom had to keep all the windows covered at night. The evil spirits would look through the windows at her.

Needless to say, I was looking forward to spending some time with these two. The first night, we went to some activities and had a great time. We returned to their home to sleep. My daughters went into their room while I went in to the room prepared for me. I don’t sleep well on the road, so I did my normal thing and just lay there thinking. Since I am allergic to cats I shut the door tight, so as to not let their cat into my room.

About two in the morning I was laying there facing the wall. All of a sudden, it felt like the cat jumped next to me on the bed. I wondered how that thing had gotten into the room. Then I realized that if it was the cat, it was the size of a mountain lion.

At that moment I realized it was not a cat. I KNEW who it was; it was Satan. The thought came to me to “push” with my rear end to get him off the bed, as he had to be on the edge. So I tried to push. I couldn’t move, I was paralyzed. The astonishing thing was, I was not scared. I had no fear in that moment of him. I lay there wondering what I was to do. I tried to open my eyes, but could not. I had never been unable to move before. I asked Christ to please come! He did, and the Devil left.

I whirled around to the edge of the bed. I sat there for many minutes and prayed a long prayer of gratitude. I never knew that Satan had that kind of power, enough to paralyze me. But I was so incredibly grateful to Christ, that He would come and “save” me. The experience was only a few minutes long, but long enough for me to understand that Satan does have power and is very real.

The next morning I told Tom and Julie about my little experience. It didn’t seem to faze them. We went to church with them and later that night did a book review. It was a great time and we had a lot of fun with them.

After the meeting we talked past midnight. We were discussing how spiritual things seem to bring people from the other side of the veil. We talked of Christ and many others. The room felt full of “other” wonderful beings. All of a sudden they left. Every one of them. It was so sudden I exclaimed, “Whoa, they all left.”

“Who left?” Julie asked.

“All the spirits in the room,” I answered.

Julie then closed her eyes (she sees spirits best with her eyes closed) and said, “There is someone just behind me, outside the patio door about ten feet. He is around six feet tall, he is dressed in old Civil War type clothes. He has brown hair down to below his chin line. His eyes are red and he is angry, angry enough that he wants to destroy all of us.”

Tom responded, “It must be Cain.”

I knew who it was from the previous night, so I just asked Christ to come back. For about fifteen minutes we talked about why Christ had left, hoping He would come back. The room remained empty. Julie kept checking outside, the being stayed there, full of hate and anger.

Finally, Christ and the other “good” spirits all came back. I was astonished when they had left, but was I ever grateful. I told Tom and Julie, “They’re back.” Julie closed her eyes and checked outside.

“He’s gone and there are two angels on the roof in full armor,” she stated. “We will be fine tonight.”

We talked another thirty minutes and went to bed with no further incidents. I joked with Julie that I was grateful not to have her gift.