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theories. The problems of the Christian pastor lie on a higher plane. Thou- sands of cases reveal that occultism in any form, even in a scientific form, harms people. This applies even to scientific para-psychologists who attend spiritist seances in order to study the activity of the mediums. The Scriptural

command to have nothing to do with spiritists applies, not only to ordinary people, but also to parapsychologists who work by scientific methods. In fact, we know of no parapsychologist who is a convinced Christian. It will be objec- ted that Professor Rhine, for instance, was a churchgoer. To be a Christian and to be a churchgoer are normally two different things. It is possible to be both, but usually it is not so. The word of God says: “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” (Romans 8:9b). “No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost” (1 Corinthians 12:3b). To be a Christian for tradition’s sake is to be a nominal Christian, unless a personal decision for Christ has been made. I cannot believe that a Christian, who has really given his life to Christ, would be able to take part in parapsychological experiments involving the use of mediums.

These words will perhaps be thought hard and arrogant. I believe, however, that the time has come for plain speaking about these facts. Even in Christian circles today, we have books about occult phenomena which make the whole problem seem harmless. For example, Dr. Kurt Hutten’s Se-

her, Grubler, Enthusiasten is an excellent source of information. What is ab-

sent from the book is any warning against many occult movements. That was not, of course, Dr. Hutten’s intention. A reader, however, would refer to this book and then say that things are not nearly as bad as the evangelists say.

Peditherapy.

Peditherapy could be described almost as a technical parallel to iris diagnosis. The term is compounded from the Latin pes, foot, and the Greek

therapeuo, to heal. Peditherapy is the art of healing by means of the foot.

The foot is divided into thirty-eight zones, which are said to correspond to certain parts of the body. One is reminded of the so-called head zones, al- though the reflex zones on the sole of the foot have nothing to do with those. Proponents of this new healing method believe that certain organs can be influenced by massaging the reflex zones.

The merits or demerits of such massage are matters for doctors to dis- cuss. That is not my province. What I am concerned about in this section is the occult use of the reflex zones. This has come to my notice in counseling. Occult peditherapists believe they can diagnose disease by touching the re- flex zones. If a slight pain is caused by touching a certain zone, the corres- ponding organ is said to be diseased.

The medical profession calls this quackery. The problem, however, is not as simple as that. Occult therapists can use the reflex zones as contact bridges and so produce diagnoses which stand up to scientific examination. What we have here is a form of extrasensory diagnosis which brings occult oppression upon the patient.

Poltergeists.

From the morass of stories about poltergeists, which must run into mil- lions, four particular areas of interest may be picked out.

1. Hallucinations

People with mental disorders can experience illusions of all five senses; sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell. These sensory illusions are found es- pecially in connection with schizophrenic conditions. Old people in a state of senile degeneration are also frequently plagued by such hallucinations, which seem very real to them. Sick people who suffer from them will not al- low themselves to be convinced that their experiences are not real. Schizo- phrenic symptoms are often coupled with paranoiac delusions. Patients of this sort will not let their fantasies be corrected.

2. Poltergeists associated with a person

In this connection, I refer the reader to the book Spuk by Fanni Moser, with an introduction by Carl Gustav Jung.

I have records of many cases of people in whose vicinity poltergeist activity is continually taking place. Often they are young people who produce poltergeists unconsciously at the age of puberty. Some examples follow.

Ex 170: A minister’s son came to me for counseling. His father taught reli-

gion at a high school and used a copy of the Sixth and Seventh Book of

Moses which he kept for use in his teaching. He carefully locked it away in his

bookcase. His twelve-year-old son was watching. His curiosity was greatly roused because his father always locked it away so carefully. When his father was not there, he took a key, brought the book out, read it, and wrote down some of the spells. Then he tried out these spells. He was surprised to find that they worked. That was the beginning of great trouble in the boy’s life. Sometimes when he was sitting in a room with the doors closed, the door would unlock, swing open, swing back, and shut again, all of its own accord. Sometimes he saw a chair slide across the floor of the room as if pushed along by invisible hands. His emotional life was also greatly disturbed and strong addictive tendencies developed.

The young man grew up, got married, but his poltergeists followed him. When he was on vacation with his young wife, the same phenomena oc- curred as in his own home. Finally, he came to the point where he was afraid he would go mad and have to be committed to an institution. He came to me for pastoral help. I showed him the reason for his troubles and tried to show him, also, the way to find deliverance through Christ. He was a sincere young man. He confessed all his sin, renounced the power of sorcery, and gave his life to Christ. After this, the poltergeists troubled him no more.

This poltergeist was attached to a particular person. It had begun with the reading of the Sixth and Seventh Book of Moses, or more particularly with the practical use of the magic spells contained in that book.

Professor Hans Bender has often pointed out the connection between poltergeists and young people at the age of puberty. I would remind the reader of the Rosenheim poltergeist, which was active only in the presence of the nineteen-year-old secretary. Or I can repeat the story of a poltergeist which has been investigated by both Professor Bender and myself.

Ex 171: Poltergeists were manifesting themselves in the house of a West

German burgomaster. The newspaper reported the case. Professor Bender went to the village and asked the burgomaster about all the details. In the burgomaster’s house there were, among other things, objects appearing and disappearing in rooms with shut doors. Sometimes these objects were hot: a glass marble flew into the kitchen while the door was shut; and when it was picked up, it was hot. Professor Bender measured the temperature. He established that the decrease in the temperature of the kitchen was equival- ent to the increase in temperature of the marble. In other words, the energy balance was what one might expect. But this did not explain the cause of these poltergeist phenomena.

Professor Bender also established that the poltergeist was only active when the burgomaster’s fourteen-year-old son was in the house or in the yard outside. There was no question of fraud. In the course of six weeks, the burgomaster recorded 136 flying objects. The professor did not succeed in solving the mystery.

When I spoke to the burgomaster, I asked him if his parents, grandpar- ents, or members of his family, had ever practiced spiritism or magic. The burgomaster admitted that from time immemorial the cows and horses on his estate had been charmed when they were sick. He had also had this done himself. The boy had been present on nearly every occasion when the anim- als were charmed.

I have recorded thousands of instances like this. In every case, some occult connection is found, and it is, therefore, legitimate to conclude that the poltergeist has something to do with the sorcery practiced by the fore- bears or during the life of the present occupants of the house. Deliverance of a house means that the people who are the cause of these poltergeist mani- festations must come to Christ to be freed from occult oppression.

I have many examples of flying objects behind closed doors.

Ex 172: In the Philippines, an evangelist came to me for counseling. He had

heard my lectures both at the Theological Seminary and at the University of Manila. He thought that I might be able to help him. He told me that every time his sister was in the house, hot stones would fly down from the ceiling. Sometimes his small children had picked up the stones and burned their fin- gers. The stones fell even when the doors and windows were closed. When the sister was not there, the shower of stones did not take place. He wanted to know what he could do about it. I asked him to send his sister to me for counseling. I further advised him, when the stones began to fall, to place himself and his family under the protection of Jesus Christ and to forbid the

stones to fall, in the name of Jesus. The evangelist did as I suggested. Not long afterward, he told me the stones were not as bad as they had been. His sister, however, did not come for counseling.

Ex 173: This example is taken from a daily newspaper, although I have a re-

cord of many similar incidents.

Parapsychological phenomenon or bad joke? This is the question which faces the inhabitants of the little Belgian village of Wilsele near Louvain. Four houses in the village have been suffering from a daily shower of stones, but it has not been possible to find out who is re- sponsible. “The stones appear to come from nowhere,” said one of the victims, who, like several other families, has had to put up wire netting to protect his windows.

The police at first suspected hooligans, but they made no pro- gress toward solving the mystery. Neither continuous patrols on the beat, nor the offer of a reward for the identification of suspects, has led to a solution. Several parapsychologists, among them scientists from the University of Utrecht, are at present studying the phenomenon. The mysterious incidents always take place in the presence of the four- teen-year-old son of the Corda family.

The father, Alfons Corda, has already filled several sacks with the stones he has collected, some of which are 8 inches in diameter. His son has been hit several times by falling stones, in the face and other parts of his body. “Life has become impossible for us here,” says Alfons Corda. According to him the stones fall only in the afternoon, usually when the weather is fine, on his house and those of his neighbors.

The parapsychologists, who are always very cautious and skep- tical in their attitude, point out that such phenomena are not unknown; and that it is particularly common for adolescent children to possess the hitherto unexplained power of telekinesis, although they are un- able to control it.

Dr. Frieso Melser mentions in one of his books an incident of this kind from his missionary experience. I have been telephoned and asked for help by owners of houses where such poltergeists manifest themselves. If, however, I wanted to visit every house in Germany which has poltergeists, I should have to travel to a different house every day, and I do not have time enough for that.

Ex 174: One day I received a telephone call from a village in the vicinity of

Pirmasens. They wanted me to come at once to help the owner of a farm- house. There were hot stones falling both on the house and on the barn. 1 told them that I did not have time to come. Several days later there was a re- port in the paper to the effect that this farm had been set on fire by the hot stones.

The so-called spirit stones are a poltergeist phenomenon which occurs only in connection with a person under mediumistic oppression. It can also happen that a sorcerer with strong psychic powers can bring a shower of stones like this upon an enemy. The incident reported by Frieso Melser is in this category. We will return to this subject in section 4 of this chapter on pol- tergeists.

The difference between the parapsychologist and the Christian coun- selor is that the parapsychologist is only able to study the phenomena but not to give help. The counselor, who is a disciple of Jesus Christ, equipped with His power, can show a person who is endangered by these things the way to deliverance. Sorcery, oppression, and poltergeists can be brought to an end by spiritual authority. This authority does not however derive from the personality of the counselor, but from Jesus Christ alone.

3. Poltergeists associated with a place

There are in Europe some old castles and houses which have been haunted for centuries. Sometimes the manifestations are so harassing to the occupants, that the house has to be sealed up by the police. This happened with a house in the Jungferngasse in Berne. I have read that the same was done with a house in Bavaria. In old castles, in particular, the ghost of an old woman ancestor is said to wander around. Sometimes these poltergeists or ghosts are associated in popular opinion with crimes that have taken place in the castles or houses concerned. Some psychologists, especially those who are rationalists, try to explain away these manifestations on psychological grounds. There are, however, some manifestations associated with particular places which occur even when the occupants have had no prior knowledge of them. I know of one parsonage in which such things took place for genera- tions. No minister stayed long in this parish. They asked to be moved on. No one family that left gave any information to their successors, so as not to cause them disquiet. And yet every time a new minister and his family moved in, they had the same experiences, which they too kept to them- selves.

Ex 175: I was told of the following incident by a very well-known Christian

worker in Germany. Years ago he lived in a house in which a terrible din was heard during the night. It sounded as if all the crockery and glass were being smashed together. Heavy footsteps were heard, scratching noises on the walls, and a whistling of wind as if there was a great storm raging even when the air outside was still. All the people in the house could hear the din. The same phenomena were observed in the house next door. There, too, the oc- cupants heard this dreadful din in the middle of the night. The person who told me of this was a Christian, and he and his whole family prayed about it. As they prayed, they consciously placed themselves, in faith, under the pro- tection of Jesus’ blood. From that day on, there was complete peace in both houses.

In this case, the cause of the manifestations was not discovered, but the Christian worker did the right thing. He claimed the victory of Christ over these dark powers. This act is unknown to parapsychology, and indeed unac- ceptable. My father’s friend, Dr. Alfred Lechler, who died some years ago, once said: “There is not only such a thing as possession of people, there is also possession of houses; and it is much easier to cleanse a house which has come under occult oppression than it is to free a possessed person.” I would point out that Dr. Lechler was well known in Germany, both as a psy- chiatrist and as a Christian of clear convictions.

Finally an example from England.

Ex 176: While I was on a lecture tour in England, a young married couple

came to me for counseling. They had bought a house which had previously housed the well-known English spiritist, Harry Edwards. As soon as they moved in, the couple noticed something uncanny about the house. During the night they heard all sorts of rumbling, banging, rattling of chains, heavy footsteps, and so on. They had sadly resolved to sell the house. They advert- ised it. A South African came to look at it. He looked the house over and cried enthusiastically: “Yes, I will buy this house. The heavenly beings, the ones from the other side, live here!” The couple saw that this South African was a spiritist and refused to sell it to him. They sold it to someone else.

Harry Edwards had practiced his spiritism in this house for years, and that was the reason for the poltergeists. The problem could have been solved in a different way. If this young couple had formed a prayer group in the house, and if possible met together with them for one-half hour every even- ing, they would have been able to drive the spirit out. Unfortunately, the fact is that among Christians there are so few men and women with strong faith in the power of prayer. There are many Christian churches which have no real prayer meeting at all. Of course the minister would say that they meet once a week or once a month for prayer. I have sometimes been present at such prayer meetings and have been shocked at the sleepiness and luke- warm prayer life of these so-called prayer groups. Prayer is not always a quiet matter. Prayer can also mean a battle. By this I do not mean that we should shout, go wild, scream, and clap our hands, as is done in some ex- treme circles, but that in all soberness, under the control of the Holy Spirit, we should claim the promises we are given in the Bible and drive out these powers of darkness.

4. Poltergeists controlled by sorcerers with strong psychic powers

We come now to the most controversial area of poltergeist manifesta- tions. Let me begin with an example which is thoroughly documented.

Ex 177: One day I received a letter from a minister in a North German city.

He asked me to come and see him because a house in his parish had sud- denly become haunted. It was a pretty house with a lovely garden. The own-