SET FREE! FROM DEMONIC OPPRESSION
For Sue Withers, release from dark powers was only the beginning of a much longer path to complete freedom
It was December, 1974. My first visit to Bugbrooke Chapel, fresh from my first term's studies at the University of Kent, where I was reading English and American Literature. Crammed into a seat right at the front, I clearly sensed the spiritual power moving among the small but lively congregation. The atmosphere was electric. They sang "This is the year of Jubilee...when all the captives are set free" over and again.
I did not know what the year of Jubilee meant, as I was a relatively new Christian, but freedom was good news to me. Growing up, I had developed a fascination with the occult - Dennis Wheatley's black magic novels, levitation on the school tennis courts, automatic writing and ouija boards - that ended with a terrifying manifestation of a demon in front of me.
Since that time I had been gripped with a fear of anything that was spiritual. Even my conversion had been a purely wilful decision - I didn't feel anything. I simply knew that it was really important that I surrendered my life to Christ immediately - so I did. Two years on, I still couldn't let myself go. I would lie in bed and pray, "Holy Spirit come," but when something began to happen inside, I would promptly pray, "Go away again."
Tonight was the time for change. "I need prayer!" I cried in desperation and somehow I ended up next door at the Manse with a whole host of eager faces waiting to help me. Kelly, now a senior leader in the Jesus Fellowship, was one. As I recounted my experiences with the occult, he explained how my involvement in these practices had opened up a doorway for demonic spirits to attach themselves to me. The group then prayed but nothing happened, or so I thought.
However, one morning, a few days later, I woke up and found I could spontaneously pray and worship. The Holy Spirit had come. I was free at last!
I will never forget the raw simplicity and spiritual power of my first encounter with the Jesus Fellowship. But the message of the song - release from slavery - has taken on new meaning to me recently as God has released me from long-standing fear and shame.
In my journey in community living over 25 years there has been sorrow as well as joys; personality clashes as well as lasting friendships, misunderstandings and reconciliation.
In the early, pioneering years of community, in particular, mistakes were made. So it's good to forgive people.
I have understood the risk of freedom. The potential to do right or wrong. Being freed from this fear has opened up possibilities and choices to do all kinds of things.
Through the turbulence of this experience I have found a new passion for Jesus. I've seen community life afresh, with eyes of childlike wonder. We are a people who are sure of all that we believe in, yet flexible enough to adapt to all sorts of people. In this I hope to be someone who is always open to God and to change, and who continues to learn of God's grace and to be a channel of this to all I meet. So Jubilee will continue to be good news!
This article has been extracted from Jesus Life magazine, published by Jesus Fellowship
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Jesus Changed My Life
