Thank you very much for your good letter which came today. I see in Byposten that you submitted one of my private letters. There’s no harm in bringing forth the knowledge of God by any means available, so that God can be glorified in all things and in every way through us in Christ Jesus. I have written an article for Byposten about unclean spirits. We see in Matt. 8, from verse 28, that the evil spirits begged Jesus, saying: “‘If You cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of swine.’ And He said to them, ‘Go.’”

On this occasion, Jesus spoke with the evil spirits and not with the men who were possessed. Those who were possessed had been overcome by these evil spirits. These spirits were even able to use their minds and their tongues. Acts 19, from verse 13, tells us about the sons of Sceva who tried to cast out evil spirits: “And the evil spirit answered and said, ‘Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?’ ” Again we see that it was the evil spirit that spoke.

About two years ago I visited a woman out in the countryside who was one of my mother-in-law’s aunts. This aunt had begun behaving a bit strangely as a result of pressure from her relatives who were after her money. She became so upset and angry about this that she felt as if something snapped inside, she said. From that moment on, she said she could not be saved. I spoke with her privately and asked if we could pray. “Yes, you can certainly pray,” she said, “but you don’t need to pray for me, because I can’t be saved.” An older lady, who also was there, asked this old aunt to repeat after her, word for word, while she prayed. “Of course I can repeat the words,” she said, “but it won’t do me any good at all.” I left without resolving the matter and could do no more. My mother-in-law went out to visit her later on. She was also in deep despair over the woman’s condition, and almost unconsciously, she put her hands on the woman’s head and commanded the evil spirit to depart in the name of Jesus. The old woman looked at her in amazement and was healed in that very moment. About a month later, she died of pneumonia, believing in her Savior.

You can see from this that I was not speaking with the old aunt, but rather with the evil spirit that possessed her.

Here in Horten there is another woman who attended the meeting house regularly. She is now possessed. She says that she cannot be saved and doesn’t want to eat any more. She has also stopped talking lately. They have to find an alternative way to get nourishment into her. She has now been placed in a home somewhere in the countryside.

It is extremely important for us to realize that we can come in contact with people where we are actually speaking with a spirit, not the people themselves. I wonder if mental hospitals are full of people like that? I thought it might be good to use Byposten to spread some knowledge about this subject; that’s why I submitted an article. In the name of Jesus we could then cast out the evil spirits and thus help these poor people.

When a person says that he cannot be saved, this in itself is a clear indication that it is an evil spirit speaking.

People often become possessed if they brood over something to the point of obsession. They take leave of their senses—something snaps. At that point, they have been completely overcome, and we are dealing with the spirit that has overcome them, not the person themselves.

There is a distinction between the evil spirit and the person in whom the evil spirit dwells.

May God awaken His people so that such poor souls can be helped, because there are certainly more of them than we realize. But naturally they are considered to be mentally ill.

Peter was not possessed, but he allowed himself to be deceived by Satan to such an extent that Jesus had to say, “Get behind Me, Satan!”—because it was Satan who spoke to Peter, saying that Jesus should spare Himself. That’s why it is important, even among believers, to test everything that is said.

Please greet the family when you get home. Greet Berglioth and Br. Engstrøm.

Hearty greetings from your brother and co-worker in the Lord,