Chapters 3 to 5 - Communication with Spirits during the Post-Apostolic Period and in Modern Times

- 18 - filled blisters already encircled her whole throat. The doctor, who came the following morning, was dumbfounded at this occurrence. Furthermore, by day and night she received blows to her side or to her head, or her feet were seized, causing her to fall down in the street, on the stairs, or wherever else she happened to be, with the result that she suffered bruises and other injuries. On June 25th , 1842, when Blumhardt had been called away to attend a children’s party, he heard on his return that Gottliebin was on the verge of madness. He hastened to her, and before long she seemed to have recovered, but on the same afternoon matters took an extraordinary turn. The patient suffered so violent an attack that she lay there as though dead. Again, it seemed as though demons were departing from her, but this time to an extent far exceeding any previous experience, arousing in Blumhardt the conviction that he had won an unexpectedly sweeping victory. Indeed, there was no further trouble for several weeks, during which Gottliebin was free to go where she pleased. One day, however, she suddenly appeared at his house, pale and with a twisted expression, to reveal something she had hitherto withheld out of shyness. She told Blumhardt that on every Wednesday and Friday she suffered painful and copious haemorrhages, and that if this disorder did not stop, it would lead to her death. Her account of certain other experiences associated with this trouble cannot be repeated here, and were of such a nature that Blumhardt must have seen in them the realization of the most gruesome fantasies of popular superstition. Blumhardt writes: “At first, it took me some time to collect myself and come to the sad conviction that Darkness had acquired such power over mankind. My next thought was: ‘It is all over now! You are getting into witchcraft and sorcery, and what do you hope to accomplish against these forces?’ When I looked at the moaning girl, however, I shuddered at the possibility that this Darkness existed and that there seemed to be no possible help. It occurred to me that there were people reputed to possess mysterious skills that ensured protection against all kinds of demonic evil, and miraculous remedies, implicitly believed in by high and low. Ought I to seek recourse in things like these? That, I had long since made up my mind, would be fighting the Devil with his own weapons. Would not sincere prayer accomplish something against these powers of Satan, whatever they were? What hope indeed is there for us poor little mortals, if we cannot beg for direct help from above? If there are such things as sorcery and witchcraft, is it not a sin to allow these forces to have their way unchecked, when we have the opportunity of combatting them in earnest?” Blumhardt therefore called out to the patient: “We must pray! Whatever it may be, we must give prayer a try. At least we risk nothing with prayer. On almost every page of the Scriptures we are assured that prayers are heard, and the Lord will do as He has promised.” On the following day, which proved to be a memorable one for him and for those who were with him, Blumhardt again visited the sick girl. Outside, a thunderstorm was gathering, promising to break a dry spell that had lasted several months. Gottliebin, suffering from an attack of veritable madness, seemed determined to put an end to her own life. Tearing about through both rooms, she called wildly for a knife; next, she rushed up into the attic, sprang up on the windowsill and had

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