Judy Clevenger’s more serious trouble began when her father died in December, 1965. However, previous to this time, I feel she was on the road that led to eventual demon possession. She told of intense emotional extremes of anger and remorse, sometimes not speaking to her brothers or sisters for two or three days after a fight.
On numerous occasions she wished in her heart that her father was dead only to regret it afterwards. This later became a powerful weapon in the hands of the demons that tried to destroy her life. They constantly reminded her of her father’s death, also his funeral, and accused her of being responsible for his death.
Even though she had nightmarish dreams previous to her father’s death, her nights now became so tormenting and fearful that she dreaded to go to bed. The poor girl would stay up until two and three in the morning before going to bed.
Beginning with her father’s death, Judy started having dizzy spells in which she would suddenly pass completely out. One time she fell and rolled down twenty-two steps in a house. At another time, she fell out of a car traveling between thirty and forty miles per hour.
Falling down a flight of stairs and at other places in the school, she had to drop out in the eleventh grade. Numerous times she fell out of chairs, off of beds, once in a restaurant, and various places in the house. As a result of this much falling, she suffered a brain concussion, various cuts, bruises, abrasions, and temporary blindness in both eyes. With extensive damage to the nerve of the left eye, she was blind in it for several days.
As this condition worsened, Judy began having violent seizures in which she had to be held down by members of her family whom she would toss about with almost superhuman strength. Biting her tongue and beating her head against the floor, she would struggle with satanic fury. They soon learned to put something in her mouth during these attacks because poor Judy’s tongue stayed so sore she could only eat soup.
After her father’s death Judy had no desire to live and gave herself over to vile cursing and terrible fits of temper with or without provocation. Subject to fall any minute, Judy wasn’t allowed to do much around the house. Having moderately smoked cigarettes, she now became a chain smoker.
Strong suicidal impulses began to possess Judy and she tried to kill herself by various means. She took an overdose of pills, tried choking herself with a sock, and tried to jump from a bridge but was stopped. At another time she tried to step in front of a speeding car, but was restrained by the mercy of God.
During her stay with us, she tried to cast herself off a second story balcony to the ground below. Once we took a razor blade from her as she started to slash her wrists. On another occasion, when the main spirit came back in, she started for the lake to drown herself. Possessed by these demons, she took satanic delight in making life miserable for her family. Subject to do almost any crazy thing, she had to be watched night and day. Once she literally ran two miles in an insane effort to leave home. Another time she went 20 miles to a nearby town in an effort to escape. At another time she walked out on a bridge beam and began to perilously rock back and forth threatening to jump on the rocks below.
Although there were only four spirits in Judy, her possession by demons was so thorough that her own mind and will would be completely blotted out while under the demons’ control. Her case was most unusual in that she, like a spiritualist medium, or one in hypnotic trance, could not remember anything after coming out from under demon control.
On one occasion we talked to the controlling spirit for four hours before casting him out, yet afterwards Judy could not remember anything that had taken place. Unless the person is hopelessly insane, he is usually conscious and aware that another spirit is talking through him. This, of course, applies to those cases where demon possession is uncovered by the Spirit of God and the demons are made to manifest themselves.
Until a demon’s presence is uncovered, the person simply thinks it is himself. He attributes his fears, hallucinations, or other strange behavior to himself. He might even concede that he losing his mind, but the presence of demons never occurs to him.
While in a visit to his family in West Virginia, Judy’s brother, who had been delivered from an evil spirit a few weeks previously, became convinced that Judy’s real trouble was demons also. Believing she could be helped, he persuaded his mother to let Judy come back with him and his family to North Carolina. Since his mother wouldn’t understand, he simply told her he believed she could be helped through the ministry of the church here in North Carolina.
Arriving here Sunday, September 10, around 11 p.m., Judy had to be immediately put in the hospital where she began having one seizure after another. My first meeting with her took place Monday night of the 11th. I had barely spoken to her on the hospital bed, and mentioned the Lord, when she went into a violent seizure. While she was in the throes of the seizure, several held her while a nurse put a paddle in her mouth to keep her from biting her tongue.
After our visit to the hospital, the spirits became alarmed and Judy told the doctor and nurses she didn’t want to leave the hospital, her excuse being, her brother wanted her to go to his old church with him and she didn’t want to go. She said she didn’t want his religion and should be able to choose her own church. To this the nurses agreed.
Later, when we were talking to the spirits in her, they told us they suspected something in West Virginia, but by not knowing for sure they made a terrible mistake in letting her come to North Carolina. Dunce, the main spirit, and the one which caused her to have the seizures said, “If I had only known for sure I’d have never let her come here.”
Realizing they were in danger, the spirits really went to work on Judy to kill her before being cast out. She must have had close to a hundred seizures her first week in North Carolina. Wednesday, September 14, she had twenty-five seizures from eleven in the morning until nine that night. The poor girl’s tongue got so sore she could hardly eat.
Never having dealt with a case as severe as this one, I was very reluctant to start. I just told her brother to have her in every service at the church, hoping we could get some of the Word into her heart. In the meantime, I began to seek the Lord about it and asked the whole church to be praying.
Although we didn’t intend to minister to her for a while, the demons began, toward the end of the week, to manifest themselves by talking and we decided to try and cast them out on Sunday night, September 17. We first planned to deal with her after the regular service with only a few individuals staying behind to help.
This plan was abandoned when the spirits made her pass out in the early part of the service and she couldn’t be revived. Stopping our regular service, we had her brought to the front of the church where we began a battle that lasted almost three months. Three months of sore trial with seasons of darkness and despair, yet times of victory and rejoicing.
The spirits soon manifested themselves by talking back to us after we had brought her to the front of the church. At that time she was like someone in a trance and invariably kept her eyes closed while we talked to the spirits. Among many things they told us they wanted to kill her. They said they caused many of her physical ailments such as headaches, pains in various parts of her body, choking spells, dizzy fainting spells, and the seizures. They also said they accused her of killing her father and made her have terrible dreams about his death and funeral. When asked what their name was they would say, “Satan.” They also lied about how many were inside saying, “two,” when I asked them. I asked them what they thought about Christ and they said, “I hate him!”
There being such a terrific anointing on the service, we didn’t have much trouble casting these spirits out in the presence of the entire church this first time. The first spirit that went our made her fight and struggle fiercely before rending her with a convulsive scream as he went out.
She was comparatively normal for a minute or two before we got another spirit to talking to us. When we told him he was going to have to come out too, he made her start jerking back and forth until we commanded him to stop. He also came out after a struggle and convulsive scream.
After talking to her a little, we felt there were still more spirits present and started commanding them to come out also. These came out with gagging, choking, and coughing seizure. When the last spirit came out, Judy Clevenger was perfectly normal for the first time in two years.
By this time, the people were in an uproar of praise and jubilation over the deliverance of this poor girl. With a normal mind, Judy told us she wanted to be a Christian and was giving up her cigarettes and epileptic pills. Had we really known the battle these demons were going to give us over this girl in the next three months, I don’t think we would have been so jubilant.
Judy was perfectly free and normal for twenty four hours. Although she was a chain smoker, she didn’t smoke a cigarette or take one of her epileptic pills in that period. Monday afternoon we went over to her brother’s house, played the tape we had made of the demons talking to us through her, and had prayer. Leaving her in good cheer, and her accepting the fact that evil spirits were the cause of her two year nightmare, we went home rejoicing also.
Our rejoicing turned into grim reality not too long after reaching home when we received a phone call from her brother’s wife saying Judy had fallen and hit her head on the door facing and the demons were back in. Calling two of the men of the church to meet me at Judy’s brother’s house, I got in my car and started over, praying as I drove.
Upon reaching the house, we found Judy on the floor with her brother Bob sitting astraddle of her while she begged for a cigarette. Her desire for a cigarette was so great that she was oblivious to everything else.
We put her in a chair and started pressing the demons which remained quiet for a while hoping we would go away. The demon which made her want one cigarette after another became provoked when we refused to let her smoke and finally took control and started giving us a piece of his mind.
Although the spirits were more violent this time than down at the church, they came out after first refusing and saying they were not coming out. It took five of us to hold her as she struggled and fought us. With one on each side holding an arm, she would kick and stomp with her legs. After we pinned her legs down, she would wring and twist and try to bite us.
This time she was free for two days before the strongest spirit (Dunce) came back in on Wednesday night when she went to sleep. This attack was the most terrible of all in one sense. This raging demon, which caused her to have the seizures, literally tried to choke the girl to death before we could get there.
Choked into submission by this devil, she lost consciousness completely and they could find no sign of pulse. Naturally, her brother and sister-in-law were terrified when they thought the girl was dead. At this point, they started to take her to the hospital but she regained consciousness shortly afterward. This time the demon didn’t put up too much of a fight against us. It seemed that his wrath was directed mostly against the girl. Smothering herself with a pillow, beating her head against the headboard of her bed, and bending her hand back in an effort to break it, were some of the crazy things she did. She also tried to tear her mouth open and bite her own hands before we cast him out this time. The power of this devil over the girl’s mind was the most phenomenal thing I have ever witnessed. He could make her pass out, feel pain anywhere in her body, choke, cough, gag, and believe almost anything.
After we cast the chief spirit out on Wednesday night of the 20th, Judy went two more days before three spirits came back in. From September 22nd she went four days and they came back in on the 26th. This time she only went one day and three spirits came back in Wednesday night of the 26th.
This time we took the tape recorder with us and taped the battle with the demons. Since they had been telling us some things we felt would be profitable to Judy and others, we decided to question them at length. For the first time, we forced two of the spirits to give us their names, which they tenaciously refused to do at first. We also discovered that the demons were in literal torment when we pleaded the blood of Christ against them. Through this means, we made them literally cry and beg us to stop. Finally breaking under this pressure, they gave us their names and told us what they made the girl do. This was also when we learned there were actually four spirits in the girl; one of which we believed had already left.
Job, the first spirit we talked to, was a nicotine demon which made her smoke one cigarette after another. He said he didn’t make her start smoking cigarettes because he had only been in her for two months. She actually had been smoking for four years but had only become a chain smoker rather recently. He said he just made her want one right after another.
Further questioning revealed that this spirit had come out of a woman who died with lung cancer. He also said that he intended to kill Judy in the same manner.
After discovering there were four spirits instead of three, we could see why Judy had been unwilling to give up her cigarettes most of the time. Actually, one spirit had been staying in and binding her will. Only twice during those six previous sessions had Judy been completely free of demons. This is a good example of why we must have the gift of discerning of spirits in this type of ministry.
After casting Job, the nicotine demon out, we began talking to the stronger spirit that exercised such terrible power over Judy’s life. He resisted fiercely and refused, for a long time, to give us his name. He became so violent at one time that it took five of us to hold her. After this, he tried to choke her to death. Continuing to plead the blood of Christ against him, we reminded him of how Job had been forced to give us his name.
Finally breaking under the pressure, he began to cry also. Not long after he told us his name was Dunce. We really learned the power of the blood in fighting devils during this battle. Nothing would break the will of these spirits like the blood. It caused them great torment when we mentioned the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Dunce told us he hated everyone, including Judy, and he intended to kill her with the seizures. He also told us she was resisting him now by pleading the blood against him. For this, we rejoiced and praised the Lord. When we asked him if Judy was a Christian, he said she hadn’t gone all the way because she still wanted to smoke cigarettes.
When told that she wouldn’t smoke any more now since we had cast Job, the nicotine devil out, Dunce replied that Job only made her want one right after another but that the original desire was hers.
Although demons are notorious liars, we found these things were true. Judy still wanted her cigarettes even after we cast Job and Dunce out. Since she had been willing to give them up the two times she had been free, we believed there was still another spirit present binding her will.
As each spirit comes out of a person, they become more and more normal. This spirit which remained in Judy permitted her to appear so normal that we were fooled. Thinking it was only her who wasn’t willing to give up the cigarettes, we left for the night with one spirit still in Judy.
Not feeling satisfied in my spirit about her, I went over the next morning, September 28th, with my wife and the tape of the night before. After playing the tape through and talking to Judy some, I started to pray for her. Unknowingly, I started talking to the spirit which bound the girl’s will, and before we realized what was taking place the demon came out screaming with a loud voice. Judy was indeed free this time and without hesitation got her cigarettes and threw them away.
But not yet having experienced the new birth, she being so weak, and unable to resist these spirits, they came back in again the same day. Although the Lord was doing a work in her life, she was still at the mercy of these unmerciful spirits. The spirits cast out again, Judy was free until Sunday, October 1st. At the close of the morning service, she came forward weeping saying she wanted to be a Christian. Despite her genuine desire to be a Christian, she was still without strength to resist these devils which kept coming back in.
Sunday night, still on October 1st, we tried casting these spirits out and they seemed to be coming back in as fast as we could cast them out. Ten times she went into the throes of a convulsive scream, as if the spirits were coming out. Two spirits actually left, but Dunce, the epileptic demon, was fooling us by making her have the convulsive screams.
Dunce later told us he had much rather have us cast him out than have Judy call on the Lord for help. He said he had to leave when she called on the Lord for help, but he might be able to fool us. He said he could make her have a convulsive scream without leaving. Though we didn’t know this at the time we soon caught on to this trick and he couldn’t fool us anymore.
After the October 1st, Sunday session, all the spirits left except Dunce. He refused to give up and would keep coming back into the girl one way or another. Having to get up at all hours of the night and drive ten miles to cast the devils out of Judy, we decided to bring her over to our house where we could minister to her.
This move proved to be of the Lord, although it put terrible pressure on my family. The two weeks at her brother’s house had just about made nervous wrecks out of all of them. Fighting those demons almost every night, and keeping the children awake, and alarmed by those blood curdling screams, the whole household was disrupted.
At home with us, we began a daily program of prayer, praise, and Bible study to help Judy in her battle against demon possession. In spite of everything we did, Dunce kept coming back in every day or two and my wife and I would have to stop and start all over again. Sometimes he would come out in a few minutes, but other times he was more difficult to cast out.
Since he worked very hard to get in at night we were always on edge expecting almost anything to happen. Keeping her room door open, and the hall light on, we could hear and watch her from our bedroom. Time and again, we would go to her while she was having a nightmare, or talking in her sleep, and pray and plead the blood over her.
Sometimes we would have to lead her out of the room at midnight, or later, and begin fighting the devil which had come back in. Although the days were somewhat better, we couldn’t let her out of our sight for fear the demon would come in and make her kill herself. With a lake at our back door and woods all around we had to watch her every minute.
Despite our close guard, with the children helping us, Dunce came in one night while we were busy and almost made her jump off the balcony to the ground below. She climbed up on the balcony to throw herself down but was unable to do so. No doubt, the angel of the Lord was there to hold her back. In getting down, she fell against the brick wall of the house and hit herself over the left eye. Having been hit on this same place many times before, she went blind in her left eye. After the blow on the head, she went into the kitchen crying with her head hurting to get an aspirin tablet. Seeing her in this condition, my wife quickly rushed to her side trying to encourage Judy to plead the blood. But it was too late, the demon was already in.
Sitting her down in a chair to cast the spirit our again, we failed to notice a razor blade nearby where my wife had been sewing. Quick as a flash, she picked this razor blade up to slash her wrists. With us grabbing her wrist and commanding her to release the blade, she closed a tight fist over it. Though it didn’t seem possible, there wasn’t a nick in her hand when she opened it.
Although Judy’s general condition was greatly improved over her original state, it seemed there was no strength to keep this one spirit out. With her blind in one eye and not knowing what would happen next, a great darkness of despair gripped our souls. Having cast this same spirit out about twenty times, it seemed we were fighting a losing battle.
I went into the woods and began to seek the Lord in behalf of this poor girl. Telling the Lord we couldn’t continue on as we were without some help, I felt a peace and calm come into my soul. Coming back to the house, I told my wife, who was also feeling the pressure, that the Lord was going to do something. I told her that the Lord was either going to deliver Judy from the demons or us from Judy.
That night, which was about October 5th, the Lord gave our eleven year old girl, Esther, two vivid dreams about Judy and the battle we were in.
In the first dream, Judy was being attacked by a large serpent and didn’t seem to be putting up much resistance against him. By this word from the Lord, we knew more resistance had to come from Judy herself before she could be delivered. After this, we began asking the Lord to work in Judy and help her to realize she must fight harder.
In the second dream, a serpent was laughing at me and I began pleading the blood against him. As I continued to plead the blood against him, it finally reached his head which turned red, then he disappeared. By this, I knew the demon which continued to come back into Judy was laughing at our despair. By it, I also knew he was going to be defeated through the blood.
Two days later, October 7th, when the spirit came back in Judy, this dream was literally fulfilled with the devil laughing at us while we were questioning him. By the word of the Lord, we were made strong and able to resist this taunting devil. Through this word from the Lord we knew God was in the battle with us. What a great difference the word of the Lord makes at a time like this.
Due to the fact a slow mental and spiritual healing was taking place, Judy looked much better and was more mentally alert. She kept her eyes open now even when under demon control. She would also waver back and forth between normality and demon possession when we were dealing with her. One minute she would say, “yes” when asked if she loved Jesus, and a second later she would say “no” to the same question.
We also learned that she would draw strength and become almost normal while looking at us. When we would ask her to praise the Lord, plead the blood, or pray, she would begin and immediately the demon would take control of her mind. He would let her talk about almost anything as long as she didn’t praise the Lord, pray, or resist him with the blood. She could hardly utter a syllable of direct communication toward God before he would take over. Then she would say, “No! No! I don’t want to.”
Every time she began to draw virtue from looking at us the demon would make her turn her head and look elsewhere. What a tremendous lesson this was to our hearts, to see that this poor demon possessed girl actually received help just by looking at us. It made us realize that our lives are either giving out life or death. When we asked the demon why he made her turn head from looking at us he said, “Because she draws strength from you.”
It also got more and more difficult to cast this spirit out as Judy regained more control of her mind. When we would command the demon to come out he would release her mind and let her take over. Only when the spirit was in full control of Judy could we cast him out. Though we didn’t realize it at the time, this was of the Lord because she was approaching the place where God expected her to call on him personally for help.
Although there was decided improvement, and Dunce could no longer make her have seizures, he was still able to almost choke her to death six times in one afternoon. This was done from the outside with Judy in her right mind and doing well otherwise. Although she was fully conscious, and knew what was going on, she was powerless to stop these attacks. She said it seemed as though someone would put their hand over her mouth and nose and suddenly cut her breath off from her body.
And although she would plead the blood in her mind, she couldn’t make the demon release his hold until we rushed to her side and began rebuking the spirit and commanding him to leave in Jesus’ name. The last time he attacked her this way was when she went to her room that night. Our eleven year old girl just happened to look in on Judy and saw her lying motionless with eyes open staring into space, but no sign of life. She alarmed us and we rushed in once more and made the demon release his hold so she could breathe.
Later, we questioned the demon when he came back in. He took great pride and pleasure in telling us he caused the choking spells that day. He said he could make her do this from the outside as well as from the inside. However, he admitted he had some help that day from some other spirits that were nearby.
We well remember this day because we had picked up a man to help us do some yard work. And although we knew this man was mentally dull, we didn’t think anything about having him around since he had worked for us in this manner over the years. However, when we picked him up we felt apprehensive about his presence with Judy in the car with us. We had only gone a short distance before Judy became very nauseated and almost had to vomit. By pleading the blood and resisting the devil she got better and we managed to get home without further trouble. Still feeling very uneasy in my spirit about Judy being close to this man, I hurriedly sent her and my wife into the house while I took James into the yard.
Not long after this, she had the first of six choking spells that afternoon and evening. Later, when talking to the spirit about these choking attacks, he readily said he received strength from the spirits in James while he worked around the house. Although James was dull witted and harmless, I now thought of many things about him which no doubt were the result of these spirits.
The real turning point in this battle against Dunce came Sunday morning, October 8th, at 1:00 a.m. With him coming back in sometime after Judy went to bed, we started our battle against the spirit around 12 midnight. For a long time now, my wife and I had been able to handle her alone. Although we could not cast the demon out as easily as before, we had control over him.
As already stated, the demon would go down (release her mind) when we would command him to come out and thus avoid being cast out. Working with Judy in this manner, we would alternately speak to the spirit and then her. When he would release her mind, we would try to get her to call on the Lord, praise him, or plead the blood against Dunce. The demon would parry our urgings as a boxer blocks punches.
One time she managed to resist him with the blood of Jesus, seemingly, before he could stop her. At this he was so furious he threw the poor girl headfirst onto the floor where she lay unconscious until we picked her up. Putting her back into the chair, we started all over again. She struggled so hard to call on the Lord that it seemed she was in agony as tears streamed down her cheeks. Believe me, a battle was being fought against powers and principalities. As we joined our faith and spirit with hers, she finally broke this devil power when she cried from the depth of her soul, “God help me!” Instantly, the demon’s power was broken and he left. Needless to say, this was a time of rejoicing for the three of us, at 1:30 in the morning. Judy was so happy she didn’t want to go to bed at all. This was the first time the demon had ever left without being cast out by us.
The night after this happened Esther had another dream of Judy running toward Jesus as hard as she could go. Several times a black figure (man) would step in between her and Jesus but she would knock him out of the way and keep running. We knew, from this word from the Lord, that Judy had received strength from the Lord and would put up greater resistance from now on.
I wish I could report the fight was finished with this episode, but such was not the case. Indeed, it was a turning point and we never had to cast the demon out again by ourselves. But he continued to stay right beside Judy and managed to come back in several times after this. However, each time we would have to help Judy call on the Lord herself before the demon would leave.
She went almost five days after the night of October 8th before Dunce
could get back in. This, of course, was the longest time she had ever gone. We were praying and hoping that final and complete work was accomplished. But there was still much battle yet to be fought. This demon was determined to hold on to Judy and still had many diabolical tricks up his sleeve.
It is well nigh impossible for anyone to realize just how weak the will, the mind, or the general constitution of a demon possessed person, such as Judy, is. To begin with, she wasn’t even a Christian. That, in itself, is sufficient to keep most people away from God. Secondly, she knew nothing about God, the importance of prayer, His word, or how to resist this enemy. Thirdly, these demons had such complete control over her mind that they could traffic in and out without her being aware of it.
Fourthly, anyone who has been in Judy’s condition is incapable of realizing the desperate seriousness of their need. Consequently, it is almost impossible to get them to take any initiative in getting hold of God in prayer or resisting the enemy. Fifthly, God intended for her to step-by-step learn the ways of the Lord and overcome this terrible enemy herself. Only in this way could she be an overcomer and help others later.
While we were fighting the devil on one side, we were trying to build Judy up with the Word, prayer, and praise, on the other. And, in between, we were fighting the adversary who worked to defeat us through unbelief, fear, and discouragement. We believe the arena of battle was surrounded not only with the powers of darkness but a heavenly host of God’s angels were looking on. Were it not for the Lord’s help and the ministry of his angelic host aiding us, we would have given up in despair.
Judy was getting along good the evening of October 12th, when Dunce tricked her into bumping her head on the lavatory while she brushed her teeth. Coming out of the bathroom, she told my wife she wanted to go back to her brother Bobby’s house. Knowing that Dunce had vowed to get her away from us, we recognized immediately that he had come back in.
Sitting her down on the couch, we had him talking to us in a minute or two. Though he pretended to be Judy to begin with, we let him know we recognized him. After establishing his identity, he told us he came in when she bumped her head in the bathroom. Asking him how she bumped her head, he told us he made her head get heavy.
As soon as he left Judy, she was normal once more and had no desire to leave. Not being able to remember things that transpired while under demon control, she was surprised when we asked her if she still wanted to leave. This time Dunce stayed out only one day before he came back in, which was October 13th.
One of the most amazing experiences in our ministry to Judy Clevenger took place the night of October 13th. On this night we had a married woman brought to our house who also had demons. Since Judy was sympathetic toward anyone in this condition, she expressed a desire to help us in our efforts to deliver this woman.
We sat this woman down in a chair and after we talked to her for a few minutes, the demons began to manifest themselves almost immediately. As these demons began screaming and raging in the woman, Judy was praying over on the couch where she was sitting with my wife and another sister. Occupied with the woman we were trying to help, we didn’t notice that Judy had quit praying and had started to watch the proceedings.
Before we realized what was taking place, Dunce had come back into Judy and she sat staring at the woman as if hypnotized. Finally realizing what was taking place, we tried to get her to resist the demon but it was too late. Leaving the woman we were ministering to with her husband and two of our church brothers, we quickly took Judy into another room. We really had a situation on our hands fighting devils in two different people at the same time.
In a few minutes it became obvious that we were fighting a losing battle under such circumstances. Realizing we must separate them, I told my wife and sister Ruth Campbell, to take Judy in the car and drive to her house about 10 miles away. Coming back into the house after helping get Judy into the car, we began questioning the spirits in the woman. Having been under demon control with her eyes closed, the woman did not know Judy had left. I asked the demon that was talking what had happened to the girl and he quickly replied, “the spirit came back into her.”
We were literally astounded to learn these spirits were very much aware of what had happened and had indeed helped Dunce get back into Judy. Not knowing that Judy had left the house, the spirit asked us where the girl was. He said the spirit (Dunce) was gone and he was supposed to be with the girl. He knew she was gone because the spirit was gone.
The spirits in both the girl and the woman not only were aware of each other’s presence, but also felt obligated to help each other. Judy tried to get out of the car as they were driving over to the Campbell’s house. Dunce spoke through her saying, “They are about to cast him out, I’ve got to go back and help him!”
The most amazing aspect of this experience was yet to come. While over at the Campbell’s house, the two women helped Judy to get free three times. However, with Dunce coming back in after a few minutes each time, they finally gave up and decided to wait on us. When they gave up, Dunce started begging to come back over to our house.
When they asked him why he wanted to go, he replied, “I’ve got to go help him, they are going to cast him out.” He said, “We don’t like one another, but we have to help each other.”
When they questioned him further, he said, “The master tells us to help one another and we have to obey.” Then he said, “We hate him but we have to do what he tells us.”
When asked who his master was, he said, “Lucifer.” Later he said, “I have to go and get him some water, he’s thirsty and begging for water!” Believe it or not, that was exactly what was taking place at our house. The spirit in the woman was begging for water saying she (the woman) was thirsty. Dunce knew what was taking place at our house.
Later, I asked Dunce about this and he told me that he did indeed leave Judy three times to come over and help the spirits in the woman. He also told me he couldn’t get out when my wife and Ruth Campbell quit trying to help Judy. This was when he started begging for water.
Demons can’t of themselves leave a person they indwell while in the presence of Christians who recognize them. The person had to call on the Lord himself or the spirit had to be cast out by those in attendance. At other times they can and do leave for brief periods to help a fellow spirit in need. Only when Christians are present who recognize them are they bound.
Later, I asked Dunce if spirits were affected by thirst when the person they were indwelling begins to call for water. “Yes, when they get thirsty, we’re thirsty.”
It is a notable fact that if you deal with a demon possessed person very long, they will begin to ask for water.
An amusing thing took place in connection with this experience when Dunce came back into Judy. We asked him what happened to the woman we were dealing with which had the spirits. He said, “They were cast out.” Then he laughed and said, “I’m not the only one that’s failed. They’ll” (the spirits in the woman) “go clear to the bottom too!”
He took great satisfaction out of the fact that the spirits in the woman had failed to keep their victim even as he was failing in keeping Judy.
Demons take great pride in holding on to their victims until they destroy them. It seems there is a rivalry among them and they expect honor or dishonor according to their success. They also seem to fear rebuke from Lucifer if they fail. They are aware that they belong to the kingdom of darkness and Lucifer is their king. Although they hate each other, they hate Christ, his people, and his angels even more. Being aware that they are in a war against us, they help each other when attacked.
After this night, Judy went one whole week before the demon came back in again. This time he pulled another insidious trick to get her to bump her head. Unbelievable but true, this spirit still had great power over this girl, even while on the outside. This time he caused a sharp sudden pain in her side and made her jump and bump her head while in bed. After this October 20th encounter, Judy had two 2-week periods free of Dunce except for heavy depression caused by homesickness.
We learned later this was part of his new strategy to get Judy away from us. He told us he had to get her away from us, and then he could do as he pleased. He first tried to turn her against us but Judy wouldn’t be deceived by this strategy. One day Judy had to continually resist him as she felt strange resentment welling up in her against my wife. One time she had such and overwhelming desire to curse my wife out she literally ran to her room to plead the blood. She went so fast she ran into the jam of the door in her haste. After resisting him all day, Judy finally told my wife what was going on and Dunce’s power was broken.
Failing in this, he made her homesick to see her family. Through this mental harassment, he came back in again. Upon questioning him about how he managed to get back in, he told us he made her homesick. He said he just kept reminding her of her family in West Virginia until she was so worried he could get in. He also said her tried to turn her against us, but she would not believe him. He expressed surprise that she wouldn’t turn against us, saying he thought she would believe that easier than the other. On one of these occasions he said, “Why don’t you leave her alone? She’s no relative of yours.”
During these sessions he would also try to make us believe Judy didn’t really want to live for God. We would call him a liar and make him admit that she did.
In addition to the two occasions when the spirit came in when Judy bumped her head, he also came in once when she fell while playing in the yard with the children. It seemed the mental shock was just enough for him to move in. Each time he would come in now, he would be very careful to hide his presence from us. Judy would be so near normal that we might not detect the spirit’s presence for two or three hours.
It being his nature to impart evil to the one he possessed, Dunce would make her do something that would arouse our suspicion. Even Judy would not be aware he had come back in. Usually she would become noticeably quiet. She would also become stubborn and resent the slightest bit of correction. When she would refuse to pray with us we knew the demon had come back in.
Another glorious miracle took place in the life of Judy Clevenger during the last part of her battle against demon possession. Being temporarily blinded on two occasions from her falls, and the left eye damaged more extensively, Judy’s eyesight was very poor even with glasses. When she decided to take her glasses off, and trust the Lord to heal her eyes, Judy’s left eye went completely blind again. Seemingly, her faith had worked in reverse.
For thirty six hours her faith was severely tested. In spite of the added disappointment, we joined our faith with hers in looking to the Lord for the healing of her eyes. Fifteen minutes later, while she was in prayer, a shooting pain hit the left eye and she screamed falling upon her knees by her bed. Rushing into her room to see what was wrong, we found her on her knees weeping.
Overcome by emotion, Judy could only point to her left eye while she wept tears of joy before the Lord. Sure enough, God had healed her eyes. Getting a book with small print in it, she could read it perfectly without glasses. God had given her a perfect set of eyes even better than 20/20 vision.
This wonderful experience of healing helped Judy spiritually, but Dunce still hung around hoping to get back in again. Tuesday afternoon, November 20th, he came in again when Judy bumped her head as she went into a sister’s home to attend a prayer meeting. This was the last time Dunce was able to completely blot out Judy’s mind while under his control.
The same Tuesday night the Lord restored Judy’s ability to remember things that had been blotted out of her mind these past two years. She could now remember the many sessions in which we had dealt with her while under demon control. Previous to this she couldn’t remember anything that had taken place during these sessions. This was the last great step in Judy’s healing. Although the enemy came back and oppressed her for awhile, his power to completely possess her mind was gone.
Judy has not only been delivered from demon possession herself, but she is now being used of the Lord to help others. With that innate psychic ability to yield herself, the Holy Spirit now takes possession and gives her visions that help God’s people. This ability was first manifested during the battle against the demons in the second week.
During our battle against the spirits, Judy would have periods of consciousness and suddenly begin staring in a transfixed manner at something. Asking her what she was looking at, she would point to the thing (vision) and say “it’s a dog” or “it’s a snake”. Then she would describe it for us. Several time she saw a yellow snake which stayed around her long after the others (spirits) left. With her eyes open, she once saw him at the foot of her bed like a giant Cobra standing seven feet tall. When she resisted him with the blood, he disappeared. The dog she saw several times had his mouth open in a vicious snarl, as though he intended to bite someone.
Once she saw a giant reptile like an alligator or crocodile with his mouth open also. On this particular occasion, Brother Don Metcalf, who was helping us with Judy, had visions of these same creatures. When she had these visions she would never voluntarily tell us she saw these things. Only when we would observe her staring and ask her what she saw would she tell us
During her two years of demon possession she had never seen these things. The Lord was simply letting her and us know the nature of these vicious demons that had possessed her life, and always when she would plead the blood they would disappear. Since then, she has had marvelous visions concerning Christ’s body and things pertinent to individuals.
On several occasions she has seen things in visions exactly as they took place without knowing anything about them. Before Dunce had to leave her the last time, she had already had several of these visions. I asked Dunce what he thought about these visions the Lord was giving Judy. He said, “I don’t like for her to have them. They help people and I don’t like that.”
The most glorious vision of all took place when the Lord destroyed the enemy’s power over her concerning her father. For two years she lived in torment thinking she was responsible for his death. These devils delighted in torturing her at night by carrying her back to his death, his funeral, and scenes at the graveyard.
The night of this vision Judy was awake in bed with her eyes open. Suddenly, the Lord appeared at the foot of her bed with light emanating from his person and an expression of gentleness and love on his face. He said, “Judy, go ahead and be baptized. Your father is waiting for you.” From that night forward the devil’s power to torment her about her father was broken.
Our sovereign God chose this girl out of the millions of poor demon possessed people on this earth to manifest his power and mercy. She was an object lesson to show us the helpless condition of those who are demon possessed. Through this battle we have learned first hand in three months more about demons than any school on earth could teach us.
The deliverance of this girl is more than just a ray of hope for others. It is positive proof that Christ is still master of demons. Through it we have been made to realize that deliverance from demons is not just to free men from the scourge of devil power. But that they might know him whom to know aright means to have life eternal.
Perhaps the greatest reason of all for Judy’s deliverance, in the manner in which it had been accomplished, is to teach and prepare God’s people to be able to stand against the power of Satan’s host which is being released upon mankind like never before.