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No careful observer could have been with us during those weeks of the mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit and doubted that there are two Kingdoms in constant conflict. As surely as angels minister and the Holy Spirit leads to a real Kingdom of light, so surely do demons hinder, while the devil presides in a realm of evil spirits in a kingdom of real darkness. One kingdom was made as certain to us as the other. Man was clearly revealed as the battle ground.
The Bible teaches that there are "the lower ranks of evil spirits and the higher" (Rom. 8:38. Weymouth) and that our conflict is not "with mere flesh and blood but with the despotisms, the empires, the forces that control and govern this dark world" (Weymouth Eph. 6:12). Both Old and New Testaments teach the reality of a Kingdom of darkness and the reality of demons.
Demons
We related how demons were cast out of one man and how the larger demon was seen to rush about the room in great anger, finally seizing upon an unguarded school teacher, who was looking on, and throwing him to the floor. In this instance two boys saw this big, black, man-like demon enter the man of his possession. Several children saw the cast-out demon, chased out of the room by a Spirit filled young man, take temporary refuge behind some small trees in our court. This demon and the accompanying one about half his size were seen by children who were praying with closed eyes and by some whose eyes were open. But all saw the same things at the same time. The appearance of the demons was the same to each individual.
In the Adullam Rescue Home we had a young girl who very evidently was open to demon activity. She said that before coming here she was subject to "fits," or spells of unconsciousness. A short time after she came, she and some of the other girls went for a walk outside the city. On the way back one of the new girls who was half-blind and half-witted lingered behind and lost her way. The older girl, having gone to find the one who was lost, was returning home with her when she saw three demons before her, a few steps away. One was "as tall as a door" and was accompanied by two others about the size of a boy twelve years old. All these demons were dark in appearance, with big eyes and awful faces. The two smaller demons being apparently subject to the large one, obeyed and followed him. The girl was frightened at what she saw. The large demon, coming near, seized her by the head. She became dizzy and almost unconscious. She could scarcely walk. She could hardly see the street and had to be led home by the other girl whom she had gone to seek. Upon reaching home she was better for a time. A little later, while we were at supper, some one came in saying that the afflicted girl was in her room unconscious. We found her prostrate on the floor, breathing as if in a peaceful sleep, but we could not awake her. After praying for her we all assembled in the regular evening prayer meeting. Soon the girl came in perfectly well.
She said that she seemed to be bound by chains and dragged by demons farther and farther down a great dark road, while all the time she was silently praying; then she suddenly realized that the Lord had set her free and she was able to rise. At once she became conscious, and her mind clear. As she sat on her bed alone in the room, she saw the three demons whom she had met on the street now in the room. But now she felt no fear, for she knew that the Lord was Conqueror. Accordingly, she drove the demons out of the room in "the name of Jesus." As they reluctantly receded step by step she followed in the name of Jesus until she drove them along the walk out of the large Chinese door at the entrance of our compound. In the several succeeding months that she was here she had no more "fits" or unconscious spells.
I have given these two instances somewhat in detail, because the effect of demon activity in both cases was so evident that any kind of an observer could have told that something supernatural had taken place. We might tell of many instances of demon activity that have come under our observation the last few years, but these two are sufficient in this connection; we want to tell something of the demon activity in connection with the special outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
When there were manifestations we did not understand we kept praying and trusting the Lord, but decided not to interfere unless we clearly saw something that was harmful or sinful. After eight weeks of wonderful manifestations of the Holy Spirit we were most thankful that we had allowed such liberty among the children. We saw how marvellously the Lord had led them, and things we did not understand at first proved to be part of the Lord's plan in giving us some of the most wonderful and precious revelations.
The Demons The Children Saw
Among these unusual revelations were those of the demons the children saw.
While some of the children were having a blessed time in the Holy Spirit, others went to sleep when they tried to pray. Those under the anointing could often see demons by those who were drowsy and could not pray through. They saw demons coming in through the open window or the door. Sometimes they saw demons lazily reclining under the table or upon a couch that was in the room. Under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the children, with closed eyes, in the Name of Jesus would rout the demons out of their places and follow them until they went out of the door or window.
They frequently followed these demons out of the room, opened a front or back door to the compound, and chased the demons off the premises. When demons appeared on the scene they were often seen by several persons at the same time.
Some of the children had seen demons before. We found that in spite of all our teaching about the Lord they were still so afraid of demons they dare not go to their rooms alone at night, and they covered their heads when they slept. Through these revelations, however, the children found that the largest and fiercest demons were unavailing against the smallest child covered by Jesus' blood, so that, for the first time, we had a happy lot of Chinese children who had lost their fear of demons, were not afraid in the dark, and were not afraid to sleep with uncovered heads.
You may wonder what the Demons were Like.
The demons seen are best described as resembling the demon idols in Chinese temples. According to the Bible [1] and according to the Chinese, much idolatry is demon worship. Making idols of the demon type is an attempt to reproduce the likeness of demons that have been seen.
The children saw demons as "high as a door," with pointed chins and warty heads. There were others of different appearance too, some half this size. There were smaller ones two or three feet high and little ones a few inches high, following the larger demons about.
The large, big-eyed, fierce-looking demons are the ones to be feared as having power to bind and take captives to hell.
The Principalities and Powers of the Air
The hosts of the powers of the air and their works of darkness in cooperation with demons on earth were seen by various Adullam witnesses, whose testimony is as follows:
The government of the hosts of evil is in mid-heaven. Here are thrones from which the devil's angels exercise their Satanic government over the earth. These rulers of darkness vary: some are larger in stature than others; there is variation in dress, crowns, facial expression, disposition, and authority. In all respects they are as devilish in appearance and acts as the hosts of Satan are expected to be.
These rulers of evil are in constant contention among themselves, each resenting the authority of those higher in power, each jealous of the other and all covetous of the seats of highest rank. Those in higher rank hold their positions, not by consent of the lower orders, but solely through their own superior fierceness and power. Cliques and individuals are in constant conflict and quarrels.
All have crowns that represent various orders and ranks. All desire to sit on the thrones above and supervise the work of evil on earth, rather than descend on delegated duties to further the demonical powers below.
Those of highest rank sit on thrones in the mid-heavens, ruling over innumerable hosts of evil spirits, from whose number delegations are constantly dispatched to earth to entice its inhabitants, to withstand the forces of righteousness, to strengthen weak places in the demonical forces of earth, and to bind and to drag the souls of evil men to hell when they die.
Although these wicked angels fly in high heaven to the very gates of the New Jerusalem and although they descend to earth and fly in its air, the center where they congregate in countless numbers is in the region of the thrones of authority in the mid-heavens. Here evil hosts of wicked spirits of all sizes fly hither and thither or move about more deliberately. A certain halo surrounds the wicked angels of higher rank.
All are similar in some respects: All have wings, all have crowns, all belong in the heavens. The delegated messengers go to earth only temporarily. Their evil errand finished, they again return to the heavens.
The hosts of evil spirits on earth are very different from the devil's angels. These on earth do not have wings; they can walk and run rapidly; and they move freely but apparently do not leave the earth. They vary in size from a few inches to ten feet in height, wear gaudy colored clothes of many stripes, and have fancy caps of various shapes and colors; some, on the other hand, wear rags or filthy garments.
Some of these demons on earth have very little power and are of a rather harmless order. Others, however, are large in stature, fierce in appearance, and have great power. These on earth withstand the work of righteous men and the work of angels among men. In one of their conflicts with an angel, earthly demons of highest rank, assisted by others of lower rank, gathered about the angel, trying to strike him with clubs, swords, and other weapons. Through faith and praising the Lord, the angel so withstood this onslaught that no blow fell upon him nor could an evil hand touch him. The demons of less power, standing at a little distance and watching the conflict, upon seeing their companions unsuccessful in their attack, besought the powers of evil in the heavens to send a reinforcement of the devil's angels from the air. In response to this entreaty a detachment of ten angels were sent down. As these approached the earth the demons below clapped their hands in joyous welcome. When the wicked angels from above reached the scene of conflict these less powerful demons, receding a distance, stood in respectful quietness in the presence of the Satanic delegation from above, who now took up the conflict with the angel. These forces the angel also withstood with praises and faith until suddenly the Glory of God descended and entirely routed all the hosts of evil.
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