From the May 2002 Idaho Observer:

by Don Harkins

What do you think about demons? Was the 70s movie, “The Exorcist” a fiction or was the little girl played by Linda Blair really possessed by a demon?

If you can believe that demons enter people where they can use that person to project their own ill-intended personalities on the world around them, then you can believe demons may be removed by a more powerful force.

We all know people who behave badly -- some are self destructive, others are verbally and/or physically abusive to others. We also know people who are addicted to certain foods or substances that are bad for them or repeatedly engage in behaviors that systematically destroy their lives or the lives of people around them.

Why? In most cases, the people we see destroying themselves and/or others are intelligent enough to know better. Most people also display moments of lucidity that make it almost impossible to associate them with the monster that destroys that which he touches.

A few months back we received a self-published book in the mail. It was called, “I Will Try,” by Sam Schwindt of Billings, Montana. The story Sam has to tell about his life and the commission God has given him is quite beyond Linda Blair's Hollywood possession.

Sam goes from place to place praying with people and delivering them of demons. Sam believes that it is the demons that compel people to smoke and drink themselves to death, crave perverse sex and beat their children. Once the demons are forced by God to leave a person's body, the person is delivered and is relieved of the tendency to engage in the behaviors demonic possession prompted in them.

However, what is to prevent demons from reentering a person? According to Sam, a person must be vigilant and pray for guidance. It is human weaknesses that allow the demons to enter.

Is this the way it works? Can we attribute all destructive behavior in people to the demons that find haven in their bodies? Sam believes this is how it works and God has been sending him all over the place to deliver people from demons.

To talk to Sam in person or on the phone is to know that he is a spirit-filled man. To read his book is to know that what he has written is the truth.

Sam's writing style is simple, humble and it exudes decency, hope, love and faith. He tells his own story of sex, drugs and country and western music and how God put it on his heart to change. And now God has commissioned him to change others.

In all honesty I have no idea why this story is being written by me. Though I have come to love and trust Sam as a close friend, I do not know myself for certain if demonic possession explains bad behavior in people or not.

What I do know is that Sam has a profound effect on certain people and that he goes where he is sent. If this article has spoken to you and you either want to read Sam's book or talk to him in person, then call The IO and we will accommodate you.