From Darkness to Light

The title of this post is a little misleading as even though this is Hector’s story it is told by Jim and concerns the demonic possession and subsequent exorcism or deliverance of Hector’s sister followed by the death of Hector’s brother. It is an incredible story that caused me to change my beliefs with the full understanding that God gives us these experiences so that we may fully walk in the plan he has for us. It is best summed up in my belief by the following verse:

2Co 1:3,4 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

You see, God is our father and the father of compassion and comfort, all compassion and comfort that is, and he comforts us in all our troubles. Why? For this reason: so that we can comfort others in similar situations. Did you get that? We have problems and God helps us with our problems so that we will go out and help others! and that is what we are doing at From Darkness to Light. We are using this experience and others we have had in the past several years that God has given us because we see the need he has shown us to help others in similar difficulties.

So here is Hector’s story:

I DO BELIEVE DEMONS CAN POSSESS

Written by Jim Guffey

March 2008

My house here in Guatemala is located on the side of the mountain, on the inside of an ancient volcano actually, overlooking beautiful Lake Atitlan and the tiny village of Santa Catarina. From the deck of my home at night I can see the lights of many villages around the Lake and watch the few cars and taxi trucks immediately below as they drive back and forth between Panajachel, Santa Catarina and San Antonio. On a Sunday morning two weeks ago, at about 4 a.m. I was sleeping comfortably. But had I have been on my deck, it may have been possible for me to see something very unusual; the figure of a 17-year-old girl in her nightclothes, walking barefoot along with a dog, headed towards the cemetery.

As I drove to meet Hector in preparation and anticipation of the meeting with Raquel and the rest of his family, many things were going through my mind. I had already decided that I wasn’t going alone and therefore I could rely upon my friend who would be accompanying me to lead the interview. I hadn’t prepared any questions or let myself think about it too much yet things popped into my mind. I was going to be sitting across the table from several people who just two weeks before had been possessed by or fighting with some sort of evil presence. I tried to shut down the questions but they kept on coming back.

What if the presence was still there? What if my presence somehow sent her back into the person Hector had described to me earlier, the person with superhuman strength and the strange voice? How would I handle myself? What should I do? I continued to put these questions out of my mind as soon as they appeared. And besides, my friend could handle these questions better then I could.

As I parked my truck and began walking to the house I was thinking about the three or four times in the past I had met and even socialized with Raquel. While I had no deep conversations I had sat at the dinner table with her on several occasions. She seemed like any 17-year-old girl living in Panajachel. But today we would be talking about the events that led up to her possession by evil spirits. Today would be interesting for sure.

Hector met me a short distance from the house and we walked down the narrow sidewalk to his house. Houses in his area are all built on small pieces of ground, more or less 50 feet square, with rooms built around a common courtyard. There are no kitchens and dining rooms as that takes place in the courtyard. The rooms are small and primitive with simply a bed that functions as a couch at times and a few personal effects. There is a dining table such as it is in the courtyard where the interview would take place.

I was ushered to the table where Hector and I sat down, joined by his stepfather and then his mother, Rosa. Raquel was not in sight and I wondered if she would be joining us. Before I could ask this question she appeared out of her small room, wearing a simple blouse and the traditional skirt and took a seat directly opposite from me. Immediately I noticed that her head was shaved completely and that she was wearing a white scarf to cover up. At this point my friend took over and, somewhat mysteriously it all just happened. Raquel began to speak.

About three years ago Raquel was facing the pressures of doing well in the school she attended to be a bilingual secretary. She knew that the expense of the school was difficult for her mother and father. Her father was a laborer and her mother walked from store to store and restaurant to restaurant selling avocados she would buy in the market. It meant a lot for them to pay this money and therefore it meant a lot to her.

One day casually speaking to her friend she mentioned the difficulty of her studies and the sacrifice of her parents resulting in the pressure for her to do well. Her friend told her that she had no problems because she had a helper who assisted her with everything she needed. Raquel wanted to know more. And Raquel’s friend was about to help her just like my friend was helping me in this interview. But it wouldn’t be what Raquel expected.

Raquel had tagged along to the Baptist Church with her mother and family for as long as she could remember. She was a member of the Young People’s group although she didn’t participate and often slept during the pastors sermons. Being the youngest in the family and the only girl put a lot of pressure on Raquel and she resented it. Finding that her friend had a secret that helped her succeed and was willing to share it was great news. The fact that it involved Satan was not much of a problem.

In talking to her I got the impression that Satan represented the same thing as God at this point in her life two years ago. There was a church and there were services and they talked about God and they talked about Satan; yea, yea, yea. What ever. And so, when it came out that Raquel would have to give her life to Satan she didn’t see the big deal. After all, she kind of gave her life to God and that just required her attendance at some boring meetings. How much harder could this be?

The details of her assistance from Satan didn’t present any real difficulties either. She would participate in some bizarre ritualistic ceremonies, say some things and do some others. But nothing really difficult. And she had no fear for the first couple of years. Sure, it was a bit unnerving to go to the Cemetery in the middle of the night and cut her finger to bleed on the grave of her uncle in a blood pact with Satan. But at the same time it was kind of exciting.

Nothing much happened for the next couple of years. She learned that her friend’s parents were both witches, worshiping Satan in a variety of ways. They had a life-sized replica of Maximon in their house, pagan god of Atitlan, but that was kind of like the statues in the Catholic Church. They didn’t cause anyone any harm. Oh and one other thing about the witches; their house is in Santa Catarina, directly below where I live!

Then late last year, in November came the finals for school and a lot more pressure. One night Raquel walked out of her house in the darkness to a lonely spot and began asking Satan for help with her studies. To her surprise she clearly heard a male voice in her head telling her that she would do well on her exams but that she must do a few things for him. She would have to dedicate her life and all that she had to Satan.

At this point in the interview I asked her if she experienced fear in this moment with the voice. She calmly replied no. I asked her to go on with the story.

The voice told her to go back to her house and dedicate everything that was hers to him. She was instructed to physically touch it and verbally give it to Satan. She went back to the house and began touching and giving the things that were hers to Satan. Afterward she went back to the dark spot. The voice was not happy as specific items had not been dedicated and he identified them, item by item. He instructed her to return and finish the job she had started. She went back to the house and followed his direction.

She dedicated her clothes, her backpack and all of her papers and books, her bedding, toys and other personal items; even the two dogs that belonged to the family. And then she calmly went in and went to sleep.

A few days later the voice came back. Again, it was as clear as someone speaking to her personally, although it took place in her mind. He told her that he was going to give her much more than just good grades on her tests. He was going to give her great beauty. She was to be the bride of Satan! But first she must take a lock of her hair and bury it behind the house. She must take another and bury it at the cemetery. She must buy two black notebooks and begin collecting stickers.

A word about the stickers. When Hector first told me about the notebooks with the stickers inside I was somewhat baffled. Where did the stickers come from? What was their purpose? It didn’t really make sense. And then a few days later we were talking to a young man on the street, leading him to Christ when afterwards, Hector spotted one of the same stickers on his notebook. Hector removed it, telling him it was evil and that he shouldn’t collect them anymore. He immediately turned over his notebook to show us writing about the devil.

Now I had one of the stickers which I’ve had made into the photo shown below:

The loose translation is, “Do you enjoy the time away from me? I don’t!” Although the cat is a little evil looking the stickers are very popular with all the kids.

Go to Hector’s Story, Part II

This entry was posted on Monday, May 12th, 2008 at 11:06 am and is filed under Possession and Oppression. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.