A Close Encounter

I had an interesting spiritual encounter this morning. When the weather is nice I usually walk to work, and along the route I must walk up a pedestrian ramp that is attached to the side of a high bridge. This morning, as I was doing so, I could hear the voice of someone on the bridge above me, walking along in the same direction as me, so that our paths would meet where the ramp met the bridge. This person was shouting incredibly obscene threats, cursing wildly, and then intermittently I could also hear a second voice, higher-pitched, as of someone younger. These two seemed to be in some kind of argument, and I imagined myself walking right into the midst of it.

Quickly I began to pray that God would protect me and that He would calm the two people on the bridge above me. As the level of the ramp approached the level of the bridge, the source of the voices came into view. It was only one person! He was still carrying on, screaming obscenities, and at one point he pantomimed wielding a knife, lunging with his imaginary weapon, all the while shouting,"Slice! Slice! Slice!" Then I heard the second voice, like a woman's. Although the words were garbled, I had the sense that this man was enacting a struggle between himself and the woman, playing both parts.

Anyway, when I came into view the voices suddenly stopped. We passed each other, and I began to pray fervently to the Father on his behalf. I prayed in the name of Jesus that the demons would be denied and cast out, and this man saved. There is no doubt in my mind that God brought me along that sidewalk just at that moment for this very reason. It was frightening, but my fear was not for myself. My fear was for the woman he imagined himself slicing, and for him. I pray that God will rescue him.