Night Terror

This is a true story.

Whether or not it was real is unknown.

Let me explain.

My church periodically offers special Bible studies on various topics, ranging anywhere from a study on the book of Acts to the prayer of Jabez. Currently, I am nearing the end of a study on spiritual warfare. I have also been reading a couple of Frank Peretti’s earlier works (This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness) which depict this kind of warfare quite vividly. While Peretti’s works may use a bit of dramatic license, I have always believed spiritual warfare is real. The experience I am about to tell you about has merely confirmed it.

I awoke a few nights ago, quite suddenly, from a deep sleep. A sense of fear gripped me, as I could neither see or move. I couldn’t even breathe. There was a dark presence around and I knew it was not benevolent. My only thought was, “As soon as you can, call out to God. As soon as you can, call out to God.”

I don’t remember ever saying anything out loud, but I vividly remember asking God to help me. As I felt the paralyzing grip slightly weaken, I commanded the demons “In the name of Jesus Christ to leave this house.” Then I remembered my brother Curt. He lives in the apartment directly above mine, and I began to be afraid that once this evil presence left it would just go and harrass him.

I changed my command. “In the name of the son of the living God, Jesus Christ, I command you to leave this building.” I repeated this at least once more. Whether my command was audible to human ears, I’ll never know. I may have been in that place halfway between sleep and awake, or my voice may have simply been too weak to hear. Either way, the power of the name of Jesus Christ could not be denied. The grip weakened. The fear began to leave. If it was a demonic presence, I believe there were more than one as they did not all leave immediately. One seemed to want to linger until I repeated the command a final time. I now felt at peace.

I fell back asleep almost immediately, but I’m pretty sure I was thanking God as I slipped back into full unconsciousness. Not wanting to be neglectful, I made sure to thank him throughout the day, too.

I’ll never know if I was completely awake for this. I can’t deny this was only a dream, but I cannot and will not confirm that it was. It felt real. I could feel the mattress beneath me and the heavy comforter on top of me. I knew where I was, and there were none of the usual dream trappings of changing scenery or feelings of weightlessness or anything to help me identify the experience as anything other than real. In fact, the only reason I can even suspect that this might have been a dream is that fact that I did not hear my own voice at any point. If Curt had been woken by me shouting, he never told me, and there is no reason that he wouldn’t.

I maintain that the experience was real. Whether it happened when I was awake or asleep, I really don’t care. I felt the oppression of demonic attack and repelled it with the name of my savior, Jesus Christ. In the end, that’s what’s important.

Revitalizing My Quiet Time

I grew up on the King James Bible. I grew up in churches that considered non-KJV Bibles to be uselessly heretical, no matter how well intended the translators might be. Aside from the Phariseical leanings of such attitudes, I have and will always love the King James translation. It is a masterpiece with an unmatched elegance of language. For me, no other version has a more impactful rendering of Psalm 46:10 – “Be still, and know that I am God.”

That said, the King James translation is not perfect. No translation in any language can claim that. Even the translators themselves (in a preface that is unfortunately missing from nearly every KJV printed today) admitted to their inadequacy and admitted that future translations would likely do a better job. Not every English language version since has done so. In fact, I would agree with those who claim not only that most haven’t but that many of them are corrupted versions of God’s Word altered to suit a specific agenda. When a group of translators limit their source texts to only those that are corrupt and/or fit their worldviews, you end up with a version that is unreliable.

Any serious student of the Bible knows for a fact that it was written in the languages that were common to the people at the time. That’s why the Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew and the New Testament primarily in Greek and Aramaic. Even our beloved KJV was translated into the language that was commonly used at that time. You don’t even need a Bible student to tell you that the English language has changed drastically in the last 400 years. For anyone to instantly condemn every new translation that comes out simply makes no sense. Is it that inconceivable that a group of God fearing people could faithfully translate His Word into the language we commonly use today and succeed? Is it impossible for them to produce a version that you can not only trust, but teach from? Of course not.

Having grown up with the King James Bible, though, I still tend to take a skeptical view of other versions. The KJV has proven itself to me time and time again in its ability to bring me closer to God and know His will for my life. New versions come out so frequently nowadays it’s easy to see that Satan is very eager to muddy the waters of doctrine, especially since English is by and large the universal language. If I’m going to use any other version on a regular basis, I’m going to do my homework.

You see, my problem with the KJV is not so much its lack of readibility as much as my familiarity with it. I’ve read through it so many times that it’s easy (almost automatic) to read a passage and get almost nothing from it. Reading the Bible is not exciting like it used to be, and as such my quiet time in it had dropped significantly in recent years. That a large number of passage are still difficult to read does not help.

A few months ago, the Sunday School teacher for my singles class told me about a new English version called the NET Bible. The abbreviation is short for New English Translation, but the acronym also signifies that its primary method of distribution is the internet. Best yet, the text is available to download, print out and even give away those printouts for free. Better yet, you can quote large portions of it in your own writings and in most instances without needing to ask permission. It’s automatically given. Even the most popular English translation today, the NIV, can’t claim that.

Along with the text, you get well over 60,000 translators’ and study notes that basically tell you why every phrase of every verse was translated the way they were. They explain on their site, bible.org, the principles that guided their translation process. This was a project in development for over ten years, with much feedback from the Christian community throughout the entire process. It was not funded or commissioned by any denomination or group (a plus in my book), but the translators knew that accountability was paramount if their work was to be trusted.

I, along with my brothers, are reading through the Bible in a one year program again. We just finished up Leviticus last night, and I can safely say there is a night and day difference in readability. I am understanding far better what I read, and I look forward to each night’s reading. I hate to miss a day now. The Word of God is exciting to me again, as it should be. I have since ordered copies to give to my brothers as gifts. Curt has noticed the same difference as I have and is getting more out of his readings, too. Aaron is eagerly awaiting his.

I can understand your hesitation if you’re one of those who distrust any Bible that is not a KJV. It’s too easy to be led astray by faulty versions if you’re not careful. I now use the NET Bible as my main Bible, but I am nowhere near ever discarding my KJVs. My familiarity with them is a benefit now, since when I read passages that I’ve known so well I often find myself going back to the KJV to see how it compares. I have not found one difference yet that hasn’t been satisfactorily explained. All the doctrines we hold dear are still intact. You can trust this version.

As I mentioned above, there are a few verses where I find the KJ rendering more powerful or more meaningful. In the case of Psalm 46:10, there is a specific time of my life that causes this verse and the KJ rendering to have such meaning for me. The NET reading is accurate, but the KJV reading for this particular verse is preferable to me. This tends to be the exception, though. The NET Bible is a wonderful translation that is better than the King James without ever really replacing it. Every Christian who should own a copy of both. Because of the collective heart of the translators, every Christian can.