Prayer Silences the Accuser!

In early December, a man came into Crossroads and was generally disruptive, drawing attention to himself by singing VERY loudly and carrying on as such. When I approached him at a table and asked him to stop singing (that kind of thing is part of my job at Crossroads), he immediately accused me of being a member of the "Klan" and trying to keep him from singing about Jesus. I asked him his name after sharing mine, and he told me he would not tell me his name, because if I knew it I would ask him to leave. I told him I wouldn't, but he continued to refuse to give me
his name. He became more and more belligerent, making all kinds of claims, including that I was keeping people from hearing about Jesus and that I was wrong to think he was possessed by a demon (which I had NEVER said a word about). As he spoke I noticed that his eyes were continually rolling back in his head. 

He kept repeating that I had no authority to remove him, and that he was here with permission. At that point I figured I was dealing with something more than just a disruptive dude hanging out in our atrium. I began to look around for some back up, but saw no one. At that point I told this guy/thing that I wouldn't ask him to leave (the man), but that he would be silent. He said he would not, at which point I asked him if I could pray for him. He got VERY loud at that point, and said I absolutely could not. Oh well. The SECOND I began to pray that this thing would be silent in this guy, he shut up. I took a peek up to see what was going on, and the guy's eyes were back in focus and he was just staring up at the ceiling. So after praying for a minute or two, I stopped, and to my right there stood one of the other guys from our class, Dave Stansbury. Yes!

As Dave tells it, he was standing across the atrium when he saw me sitting at the table, and something in his gut told him to come help me. He said he immediately heard "Leave it to the professionals" and "You have nothing to offer there," but Dave remembered he DID HAVE AUTHORITY and he walked on over. Thank goodness. When Dave introduced himself and asked this guy his name, the guy looked at him a moment, then said "Flanagan. My name's
Flanagan." We had a nice conversation with Flanagan for a minute or two, then he  (Flanagan) said "I'm going to leave now." To which Dave replied "Great! I'll walk you out." And away walked my friend Dave and Flanagan, who was not the same person who had walked in.

Dave ended up praying for this guy again in the parking lot before sending him on his way. So...way to go Dave! Thanks for listening and responding.

-From Andrew Peters