Deliver Me From Evil

Written by Suan Lee Campbell Monday, 06 June 2011 00:00

Rhyse Skelton, a Science student at Monash University has been interested in spiritual things from a young age. His interest came through the influence of his mother: “Mum is very spiritual and [believes] in re-incarnation and practices Reiki; it is a Buddhist form of palm healing as a way to transfer healing energy through the hands.”

When he was twelve, he attended a Reiki course which ended more  frightening and dispruptive than healing, “I started getting really weird dreams after using Reiki. I seem to invite the worse kind of things into my life and for a while I got into all sorts of trouble at school. My dreams started getting very violent--dreams of killing people.”

He kept away from anyone who was a Christian and became hostile towards them because he thought Christianity was a cult One day at Monash University, a friend invited him to a Bible study ran by Student Life, a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ Australia (CCCA). Although his initial response was--“No way, Christians are insane.”--Rhyse realised his fear was irrational and he decided to go.

He discovered that Jesus was intriguing and Rhyse asked many questions about Him. He also met  Harro, a CCCA missionary. They became good friends and housemates. Harro made a significant difference in Rhyse’ spiritual journey.

“One day, Harro put his laptop in front of me and said, ‘Check out this conference website, you should come.’” It was a Student Life mid-year conference.

Recalling his experience of the conference, Rhyse said: “At the start, the singing and praying was really foreign. Why should I pray or sing about something I don’t believe in? Yet I didn’t want to be disrespectful to everyone there.” During the conference, Rhyse attended a Christianity Explained course. Through the sessions, he realised believing in Jesus and the Bible came down to an intellectual decision, not what he thought he knew of Christians.  “I could see how their lives had changed through their belief.”

One night, during a praise and worship session, unusual things began to happen. “I started singing but felt disturbed and angry. My hands were shaking, and I felt a very unholy presence around me, weighing me down.  I couldn’t stop trembling.”

Meanwhile, friends who were sitting behind Rhyse saw his agitation and began praying. After the service, Rhyse asked Harro to pray for him “Harro was asking God to reveal any demonic oppression.”

”I’ve never experienced anything like it and was trying to rationalise it with science. In desperation, Rhyse raised his head up and cried out, “I don’t know what’s going on, Jesus help me.”

Instantly Rhyse saw a vision of Jesus putting His arms around him saying, “He is my child now.” Rhyse felt a wonderful sensation of inner cleansing. “I felt all this evil stuff rip away from me. I just wanted to hang on to Jesus for a little while.” After it ended, Rhyse fell limp and at peace. That night, Rhyse prayed to receive Christ and went to bed a Christian.

The next morning, Harro woke him up and asked if he wanted to share his story with others. That was the beginning of Rhyse’ testimony of how Jesus delivered him from Reiki practices and the spiritual oppression that came from it.

When he returned home from the conference, he straightaway shared his unique encounter with Jesus with his parents and friends. Rhyse told everyone who would listen that Christ delivered him from evil.

Rhyse admitted, however, that putting God first in his life was slow at first. “Lusts of this world are still a big issue. I used to struggle with marijuana and drinking a lot, too, but God has really helped me and I’m slowly maturing with the input of other believers.”