discussion with Professor Thompson had helped some. Clearly these creatures were demons and what they appeared to be doing would fall under the broad category of demonic activity against humans. But what was it exactly that they were doing and what was their effect on the humans? He agreed with Professor Thompson that the people he saw in the dream were not demon possessed. The argument that not everyone is demon possessed was convincing. Beyond that, however, as he understood demon possession, a demon inhabited the body of a human so that the human effectively ceased to exist other than in the flesh, and the demon lived as it wished through the body of the one possessed. It was kind of like putting on someone else’s suit of clothes. Contrasted with his dream, where the demons were pictured as being outside the human’s body except for the fingers reaching into the skull, what he saw was not demon possession, but it certainly was demonic and it appeared to be forced unknowingly upon humans.
Paul couldn’t get the picture of the huge hands reaching for him out of his mind. He had a strange conflicting sense of peace in the midst of fear of what he did not yet understand. Professor Thompson was a beginning, thought Paul, but he apparently didn’t know much about demons and was obviously uncomfortable with the subject. Hopefully, Chaplain Forrest could provide some additional illumination to all this darkness. It seemed that the answer must lie somewhere in an understanding of things religious. The search continued.
Chaplain Forrest
Chaplain Forrest was guided by the light within, but it did not burn brightly within him, for he chose to listen to other voices as well. What made Argon so comfortable with him speaking to Paul Phillips was that Forrest had become a victim of his own fears. Having embraced the temptations of fear, doubt and worry, Chaplain Forrest had opened himself to the continued attacks of Tempters by the same names. Though the forces of darkness did not have a Keeper to place the Dark Master’s influence into his head and heart, the Tempters he had accepted gave them the opportunity to control or negate Chaplin Forrest’s service of the Enemy, and when necessary, to protect the Dark Master’s agenda. They had done well over the years. He was not considered a threat.
For eighteen years Derrick Forrest had been the Chaplain of Williams College. He had five years until retirement and surviving until then had become his real motivation. Things had changed over the years. The students were different with different values; their parents demanded more and would put up with less. Large donors to the college had their own agendas on social issues which they enforced by the power of the purse. Professors openly ridiculed the teachings of scripture and the president of the school, although a professed believer, was using his position to advance a political agenda. He felt naked and unprotected, no longer free to teach or preach as led.
Worse yet, Chaplain Forrest had come to doubt his own faith. When his adult kids rebelled against what they had been taught and openly renounced their faith, he was not only crushed, he began to wonder what was true and what was nothing but the teachings of man. There were no simple answers and simple is all anyone wanted to hear. He felt dry and burned out. People were unwilling to listen, so he had stopped saying what he had always believed. The gospel of this generation was spelled “t-o-l-e-r-a-n-c-e” and so rather than boldly proclaiming what scripture taught and create conflict, he turned away so he would not see and have to confront what he knew in his heart was wrong.
There had been a time some ten years ago when he thought that he was part of a great movement of God. A group of college students from Texas had come and spoken at a regular chapel. Something happened that could not be explained. Suddenly, kids were in tears rushing down to the stage to take a microphone and confess what in the old days was considered sin (lust, fortification, pornography, cheating, stealing, lying, homosexuality, etc.).31 They asked for forgiveness and prayed together. This went on day after day for a week with breaks, only late at night to allow for some sleep. More people came and emotions were high. Everyone wanted the microphone. It began to be a contest for who could “confess” the worse sin. Fellow students began to excuse the sin with a blanket, “Don’t feel so bad, everyone does that.” He hadn’t known what to do, so he did nothing. It ended. The school term ended, and the students left. It did not appear to have made any long-term change in any of the student’s hearts. How could that be? How had he failed?
His doubt and confusion were real. It had been carefully crafted and encouraged by the servants of darkness over many years. Having embraced it, he allowed it to control him and to negate his usefulness to the Father. He now looked to his own fears and had ceased listening to the light within. As a result, Chaplain Forrest had become blind to the activities of the forces of light. “Wrong choices with negative consequences,” thought Barnabas. Fortunately, wrong choices were not necessarily permanent choices. It was time to seek to retrieve this man to usefulness, and so another battle in the invisible began.
Paul entered his office and introduced himself. “How may I help you,” asked Chaplain Forrest. “You can tell me what my dream means,” and with that, Paul went through the same description he had given Professor Thompson. He had seen wisps of darkness with fiery orange eyes, bright yellow skin and huge hands with enormously long fingers, the hands encircling the heads of most all of the people, the long fingers seeming to pierce the skulls as if they held the brains of the people in their hands. The eyes of the people became crusted over. He had awoken screaming when he saw hands reaching for him. His questions had not changed. “What did I see? Why are they after me?”
“What did Professor Thompson tell you?” asked Chaplain Forrest. He knew that Paul has just left Professor Thompson’s office because Thompson had called to tell him that Paul was probably on the way to see him.
“Professor Thompson concluded I had a nightmare and should forget it, but before he came to that conclusion, he convinced me that what I saw was a picture of some kind of demonic activity, but not demon possession. Beyond that, he did not know and seemed irritated that I wouldn’t drop the subject. Look, I know this has something to do with the spiritual world. Please, Chaplain. I have to know what I saw. They seemed to be coming for me. What was it, and what were they doing? Can you help me or direct me to someone who can?”
Chaplain Forrest paused to phrase his answer carefully. He was immediately filled with a sense of conflict. He did not want to say something that would get back to Professor Thompson and offend him, and at the same time, he had a sincere desire within to help this young man if he could. This student was obviously searching for truth. It had been a long time since he really felt like a chaplain dealing with serious spiritual issues, and something deep inside told him this was important. He felt a strange sense of boldness as he prayed silently for wisdom, something he hadn’t done in a long time – and reached for his Bible – that too was something he hadn’t done while counseling in a long time.
Unseen, there had been a change in influence within the chaplain. The three Tempters had been vanquished by his Guardian as Chaplain Forrest chose to shift his focus from self to the searcher before him and how he could help him. The prayer was the turning point as he had asked for wisdom.32 The response of the forces of light had been immediate. The void created when the Tempters departed was filled by Providers named Wisdom, Discernment and Boldness, because that is what Chaplain Forrest needed most at that moment. His light within now glowed brighter. Argon looked on in horror, considering how to respond and retrieve what had been lost with no control or influence over what was playing out before him.
“Paul, I have to start by admitting that there is little I can do for you, but I do believe I know a man who can help you if anyone can. I have years of education and experience as a pastor. I have studied and preached the Bible for over 30 years, but what you experienced is something that is way over my head. I have avoided growing in understanding of the invisible world, choosing rather to focus on the physical world I can see and touch and feel. I have chosen that as my escape because I fear what I don’t understand – and that is wrong. The Bible teaches that what is real includes the invisible.33 You cannot know what is real without understanding
