Blumhardt and the Exorcism of Gottliebin Dittus – 3
Blumhardt Engages with the Demons
Sometime later at Gottliebin’s new home, things got worse – the knocking sounds resumed around her. Blumhardt and his helpers were called in and whilst there, Göttliebin saw the apparition of the woman with the dead child, the one who first appeared back at her old home. This time, she described the details of the apparition to Blumhardt, who recognised it as one of his local parishioners, a widow who had died two years previously. Before her death, this particular woman had confessed several large “sins” to Blumhardt, but he had observed she couldn’t seem to find deep peace from this.
Having described the apparition to him, he and his helpers observed something appear to enter Göttliebin’s body. Blumhardt prayed hard encouraging her to join him prayer. He noticed that whenever he mentioned the name Jesus (and he frequently did during these prayers), she deliberately pulled her hands apart, screaming that she couldn’t bear that name!
Testing the Spirits
Faced with a very difficult situation, Blumhardt plucked up courage, listened to his intuition and prayed fervently for wisdom and prudence that what he would do next was nothing more than was necessary to deal effectively with the spirit. Following the biblical instruction to test the spirits (1 John 4:1), he then began to enter into a dialogue with the spirit which looked like the widow and was now residing within Göttliebin:
“Is there no peace in the grave?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“It is the reward for my deeds.”
“Have you not confessed everything?”
“No, I murdered two children and buried them in a field.”
“Do you not know where to get help? Can you not pray?”
“I cannot pray.”
“Do you not know Jesus who can forgive sins?”
“I cannot bear the sound of that name.”
“Are you alone?”
“No.”
“Who is with you?”Hesitatingly, but then with a rush, the voice replied,
Zuendel, 1999:39-40
“The most wicked of all.”
Blumhardt continued in conversation with the spirit residing in Göttliebin. It claimed to be the widow he recognised, and that she had already possessed seven others prior to Göttliebin. She confessed to him of engaging in sorcery, leading her to believe she was bound to the devil. The spirit pleaded to remain in Göttliebin. Blumhardt wasn’t having any of this and told the demon that she was not going to be allowed to continue posessing Göttliebin. After further unwillingness to leave, Blumhardt duly exorcised the spirit from her.
Blumhardt and the mayor later reflected upon whether he should have engaged with the spirit, but found biblical support in Luke’s account of the Gadarean demoniac (Luke 8). His thoughts about this are recorded in Zuendel [1].
The Exorcism Process Continues
A brief period of respite followed for Göttliebin. It was abruptly ended with yet another “possession” scenario. This time, Blumhardt didn’t engage in conversation with the demons, opting to simply pray throughout. This resulted in the removal of hundreds of demons, some of which attacked Blumhardt’s helpers, though Blumhardt himself remained untouched throughout.
Göttliebin then began engaging in self-harming activity which would immediately be calmed as Blumhardt spoke words of peace to her.
This cycle continued for a while, with Göttliebin on one occasion complaining of burning hands around her throat, blisters being found upon her neck the next morning. She would often receive physical blows to the body, with unseen attempts to trip her up and make her fall down the stairs.
Blumhardt’s friends advised he should stop as he appeared to be getting nowhere with her However, his prayers gave him courage that he should continue to the bitter end for Göttliebin’s release.
In one particularly ferocious episode of exorcism, Blumhardt felt the departure of hundreds of demons, and this left her at peace for several weeks, to Blumhardt’s joy and amazement.
The possessions began again in earnest, and Blumhardt pressed on with casting them out whenever called to help, relying on prayer alone.
The Exorcism in the Storm
One dark and stormy evening, he was called to the Dittus home after Göttliebin had made several suicide attempts.
Blumhardt continued his exorcism practice as before, praying over her. The demons howled as they came out of her:
“Now the game is up. Everything has been betrayed. You have ruined us completely. The whole pack is falling apart. It is all over. There is nothing but confusion, and it is all your fault. With your unceasing praying you will drive us out completely. Alas, alas, everything is lost! We are 1,067, but there are many others who are alive, and they ought to be warned! Oh, woe to them, they are lost! God forsworn – forever forlorn! … Nobody could have driven us out! Only you have managed it, you with your persistent praying.”
Göttliebin came to, got changed and when they returned to the room, she was completely different.
Prayer and Fasting
Again, after a break, the possessions continued. Blumhardt was reminded of Matthew 17:21 which said that some wouldn’t come out without prayer and fasting. Taking this on board, he discovered fasting really did help him, sharpening his senses and making his prayers more fervent. Through this, he discovered a curious phenomena – “exorcism at a distance” – where he could occasionally not have to be physically present to perform the exorcism at that time.
Blumhardt noticed that further encounters with the possessing demons appeared to be yet more spirits of the dead, speaking in various languages: French, Italian, German and other unrecognisable ones.
Bibliography
Zuendel, F. (1999) The Awakening – One Man’s Battle with Darkness, Farmington, PA: The Plough Publishing House
Footnotes
[1] Zuendel, 40-41.
