Testimony of a Former Thai Exorcist

Powerful testimony of Rev. Somsak Choosong, a former Thai exorcist

Compiled by Vachiravan Vanlaeiad

I was born into a family of mixed spiritual beliefs. My maternal grandfather was a Buddhist leader and my fraternal grandfather an exorcist. When I was born, my exorcist grandfather told my father that he had selected me to be his heir, being the new exorcist after his death. So he had taken me to his house to raise me up as well as to train me about black magic. He is well versed in incantations and could communicate with ghosts and evil spirits. He could also work wonders, for ex: casting a spell on a house, causing it to disappear; fire-walking, etc.

While I was living with my grandfather, he had totally and unreservedly taught me this black magic. He taught me the methods of connecting with ghosts or making them doing various wonders for you and also the methods of talking with them as if talking with human beings. I had always gone places with him, walking behind him and observing many businesses he had made with these demons. Therefore, one day I was able to do all he had done with these ghosts.

However, the more I learned about these evil spirits, the more I had become their victims.  I remember one night seeing my grandfather sit in a dark room, receiving orders from these spirits. While he was talking with a ghost, bargaining some biddings he didn’t want to do, he was then so hurt by it that he fell down and lay rolling back and forth on the floor. After that, he recited a Cambodian language chant, fighting and dealing with the ghost. Then his hurt was gradually subsided and finally gone.

When he came out of the room, I asked him what the meaning of his chanting. He said it meant “I’ll surrender to you and do whatever you tell me to do.” So I had learnt then that my grandfather had not possessed any greater power than, or to control, ghosts. Actually, he was only their tools to do their biddings. Since then I had strongly decided that I would not become an exorcist, not wanting to be a servant of these evil spirits.

Later I had finished my high school and then my grandfather had passed way. Although I had not seen him at his deathbed, my father told me that before he died; he said that he had already bequeathed me all knowledge of black magic. That means I was the only one being appointed as an exorcist as an inheritance from my grandfather.

When I was at home, despite my young age, everyone had looked upon me, expecting me to be the next exorcist.  But I had told them I didn’t want to be as they had expected. So they were all disappointed with me.

At that time there was a woman medium working with my grandfather when he was alive, had constantly made predictions for the ones requesting the foretelling of their future. When she knew I had refused to be the next exorcist, she instantly stood up and pointed at me with her right index finger and said, “When you approach 21 years old, and still don’t want to be an exorcist, I’ll kill you.” However, I was not afraid of her at all. I still confirmed my decision not to be an exorcist even this would cost me my life.

When I had made that firm decision, I was surely aware that I would not live for long for I would someday be killed by ghosts. I then asked for a huge sum of money from my father, claiming spending the money to make my life happy before I died. From then on, I was surrounded by bad friends and overwhelmed with various addictions: gambling, drugs, alcohols, etc. However, this lifestyle had never satisfied me. The more I was involved in this vile and fleeting happiness; the more I felt distressed. I then had realized that this couldn’t make me happy at all. But I couldn’t help myself prolonging this lifestyle of mine.

My maternal grandfather had told me to be ordained a Buddhist novice, claiming this to be the best solution for me. Therefore, I had been a novice for 2 years, becoming a Buddhist preacher. Still I was confused, being unable to find happiness. No matter I had tried to do the meditation by emptying my heart and let go of my mind. However, after I stopped doing the meditation, I had become the person I always was or used to be. This had made me ashamed of being a Buddhist novice. For I had taught everyone to do good, but I myself could not practice the things I had preached. I then left the novice-hood.

I believe that this is God’s plan. For if I was not a bad guy, I wouldn’t have feared hell, thus having been seeking for a way to be free from this until I found Jesus.

After that I went to see my friend at Manorom, Chainat (a central province of Thailand), to take him to travel around Thailand (to kill time as well as to find happiness while waiting for my dying day!) for he knew many routes all over the country. My friend had asked me to see his girlfriend whom I also wanted to see. He then took me to the Christian Manorom Hospital. We arrived there around 9 o’clock in the morning when there’s an outdoor evangelism in the vicinity of OPD building. Now I heard a Thai man speaking about Jesus Christ but somehow I’d felt extreme hatred towards him despite not knowing him at all. My feeling of enmity was so strong that I wanted to hurt him but couldn’t do that for there’re many people around him. All I could do was laugh at him so hard and loud that I hoped he must be so discouraged that he’d stop his preaching about Christ!

While I was taunting and laughing at him, he said, “Everyone has sinned.” I thus retorted to him, saying, “It’s not surprised for I know who I am.” So he continued his preaching immediately, “But Jesus has the power to forgive sins.”  The word “power” had greatly touched my heart. So I want to prove this power. Usually before bedtime, I’d chant for at least 2 hours, praying to the Buddha images and evil spirits. If not, I’d be harassed by the spirits all through the night, depriving me of my sleep.

That night, after hearing about the power of Jesus, I’d tried to pray to Him, saying: “If you really have the power to forgive sins, please reveal it to me by protecting me from the power of evil spirits.” Then I went to bed and slept like a log. When I woke up I’d clearly realized that Jesus’ power is more powerful than that of the evil spirits. So I want to know more: “Who is this Jesus?”

The next day, my friend had to sit for an exam for the position of Nurse Assistant at Manorom Hospital. He told me to sit for the exam with him and I agreed. We had asked for permission from the invigilator to let me do the exam for I hadn’t brought any documents with me (for I intended to come and see my friend, not to sit for any exam!). I had insisted and asked for mercy from that invigilator, promising him that if I could pass the exam, I would immediately present him with all the required documents. I was so surprised that I was permitted to do the exam and finally had passed it (despite having not read textbooks for a few years)! So I went straight to inform this good news to my maternal grandfather that I was going to work at that Christian hospital. He was so glad. But he had also prohibited me from involving myself in any Christian matters.

To tell the truth, the only reason I wanted to work at this hospital was to know more about Jesus. And God knew my thought then well although I’d never told anyone about it.

After starting my work for only a few weeks, I later could also pass the promotion exam! Then there’s a youth meeting to be held but with the registration fee of 10 Baht per person. However, I didn’t have money for I had already lost all of mine in gambling. I thus prayed to Jesus: “Lord Jesus, I want to attend this meeting for I want to know you. Please give me 10 Baht for the registration fee. Just 10 Baht!” And then I had been constantly watching at my windows, expecting Jesus throwing the money in through them. I’d been watching from Monday until Friday, but there’s nothing happening. And in this very Friday’s evening that the meeting would start.

Thank Jesus that He’d miraculously answered my prayers. For in that Friday afternoon, my parents came to visit me, asking: “Why don’t you write to us. We miss you a lot.” Then they threw some money at me and went straight back home. Usually when my parents visited me, they would not only give me money, they would also spend one night with me.  So I was able to attend the youth meeting in that evening. This time I felt genuinely grateful to God for it seemed everything was set in advance. The meeting theme was “The Life of Jesus”. The preacher had shared the stories of Jesus with us, ranging from His birth to His death. When he talked about Jesus carrying the cross to Golgotha, I couldn’t suppress my tears. For I thought the one who deserved to die on the cross was me, not Jesus. But Jesus was willing to die for my sins. During that time, I hadn’t thought of any other persons. I thought only about myself and Jesus had died specially to absolve my sins.

When the preaching was over, I had approached the missionary who had then supervised Manorom Church and asked him how I could invite Jesus to be my personal Savior. He instead asked me how I felt. I said I felt I was a sinner and also felt that Jesus was the only genuine God who could help me. That Missionary then led me to pray the sinner’s prayer and to invite Jesus into my life.

At that very moment, I received the answers I’d been seeking for a long time. After accepting Jesus, I’d found true peace of mind. Any other evil spirits which I had encountered before couldn’t give me this peace. I was so glad, wanting to know Him more. The more I read the Bible, which is God’s Words, the more I cried…cried so hard due to having felt greatly appreciated His love for me.

Then God sent someone to teach the Bible to me every night, helping me to understand more about the things of God. As a result, I’d known more of the power of the Almighty Jesus and learnt to really depend on Him.

Finally, I had been baptized. I still remember the night of my water baptism. That night I was greatly attacked by the evil spirits for they’d tried to bring me back to them. During that night I’d dreamed of a woman I used to see many times when my exorcist grandfather was still alive. She would often appear in the shadow form. I could recognize its character but didn’t see its appearance.

The woman had stood by me, saying, “I have to take you back.” I said no. That woman spirit had repeated its words and tried to pull my legs so hard they were stuck on the edge of my bed. So I suddenly awakened.

Oddly enough, although it’s only a dream but I was woken up with my feet stuck on my bed’s edge. Moreover, I also saw that woman spirit standing in front of me. So I had rallied my courage and told it, “I don’t go for I have already been a child of God.”

When I said, “a child of God”, the woman spirit was frightened. I then said, “I’ve already belonged to Jesus.” The spirit was so afraid at hearing the word “Jesus”. I thus exorcised it. This is my first time knowing how to claim the Name of Jesus Christ (despite not knowing about this before). That woman spirit had fallen down and then sat up and walked down to the first floor. I had awakened my friend to witness this incident. He also saw that spirit walking out of the big hall and then disappeared into a big tree.

The harassment of evil spirits had not ended yet. They still came to disturb me in various forms and times. However, I hadn’t been afraid of them anymore for I knew that they had already been defeated. The more I had confronted with these ghosts and evil spirits, the more I thanked God for I had seen His greater power and authority. After believing in God, I knew that there’s a power within me which was greater than all the power in the world. And I was His son so I had the authority to use the name of Jesus to defeat the evil spirits.

Even though I had already known the secret of defeating evil spirits, however, when I was married, these spirits came to harass my wife and my children instead. This was new to me so I hadn’t paid any attention to it. But when my daughter was 3 years old I then had realized this serious matter. For she had often screamed almost every night since birth so we couldn’t leave her alone. We had to embrace her or put her on our backs or chests. Otherwise, she couldn’t sleep. It seemed she always felt fearful of something. I didn’t understand these things so I sometimes punished her, thinking she’s petulant.

One day while we were singing praises and praying, my daughter cried. I was stunned so we stopped. But when we started singing praises to God again, she cried and told us to stop singing for she didn’t want to hear the songs. I knew then that this was unusual, something surely disturbing her. I thus prayed for God to reveal this matter to me and He answered me by opening my eyes to see the shadows that were harassing my child in various ways. Sometimes there’re dark shadows covering her. I then gave orders in the name of Jesus, “Whoever you are, go away.” But they just went back and forth. So I asked God for the methods to absolutely get rid of them.

After that I had visited my friends at Cardiff in England. The very moment I walked into their house, I’d felt something trying to push me away. I didn’t tell my wife and my child about this, fearing that they would be terrified. I just told my wife to bring our daughter to sleep with us. But my child wanted to sleep in the children’s room for she enjoyed many toys in there. Although I had allowed her but I was watchful.

Around one o’clock after midnight, I heard my daughter scream. I then rushed inside her room and saw 5-6 ghosts surrounding my daughter. I was so furious, wanting to fight with them all. I ran towards them but they in turn ran after me and pushed me so harsh that I fell down and then felt myself stiff, unable to move. However, I was not afraid of them. Although I couldn’t use my body fighting with them, but I did know how to defeat them.  So I spoke in my mind, “In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, (all of you) go away now.” Then I saw them being pushed so hard that they fell. I had now gained my strength back so I ran to catch them but they were all already disappeared.

The next day, the Church’s secretary had told us the history of this house. I immediately told her that I’d already known for last night we were greatly harassed by the devils. This house was formally used as the residence of the drug-addicts.  And they also worshiped the evil spirits and Satan right in this house. When the church bought the house, they found a candle. The pastor had picked up the candle and threw it into the sea without praying for protection from God. The instant that candle fell in to the water; he felt like the storm winds blowing in gusts into him and strangling him. After that he couldn’t speak. The doctors told him to stop preaching because of his inflammable throat but he refused to give in. He said no matter what the circumstances he would proclaim the words of God. Now he’s still a preacher and his voice has been cured and improved for he has known the better methods of defeating Satan.

After listening to our accounts, the secretary was so surprised that we were harassed by the evil spirits since this house had already been dedicated to God. And Rev. Arthur Neil himself had already prayed to cast out the demons. So I told her, “Listen, Ma’am, the things I know may not be the same things you’ve ever known. My exorcist grandfather had told me that wherever the evil spirits reside, that place belongs to them. And they own that place. So they would not leave the place until the ones with more power and authority than them would force them to leave. If you dispel the spirits from this room, they would flee to the other room. Then we have to cast them out from that room again. We have to repeat the same process from room to room until all the rooms in the house are clean. At that time we could dedicate the house to God.”

The secretary had quickly called Rev. Arthur Neil to the house. He had asked me what I saw. I told him. Rev. Neil then prayed to cast out these evil spirits. After that, he said to me, “It’s true as you said,” for he had the gift of seeing and discerning of the evil spirits.  He saw that they had fled to the other room. He also was able to identify different kinds of evil spirits as well as their different duties and functions. So we jointly prayed to dispel them but not after we had taken all the children out of the house. We remembered a devil cast-out phenomenon in Scotland well for they had forgotten an infant sleeping in the room. So the devil had entered the infant and killed the child because children are often sensitive to these spirits and are easily attacked due to their high vulnerability. After the children had been taken to the other places, we then prayed together until the whole house was totally cleansed of evil spirits. Then we dedicated the house to God one more time.

Before these events, there were many missionary couples having been attacked by the devil. A pregnant wife had felt like being slapped on the face so hard that she fell, resulting in her abortion. Rev. Neil had also told me that, “If we are often harassed by the evil spirits, we can send them to hell before the set time, in the name of Jesus.” I was so glad knowing this and thought that next time if I had encountered with them again, I would definitely and harshly dealt with them.

During the time I was studying at the All Nations Bible College, I had prayed in my heart: “Lord God, if there’s any evil spirit confronting me, please let me know.” However, I’ve never spoken my thought out, only keeping it in my mind. We should know that the evil spirits don’t know anything in our heart and mind. They only know the things we say or express in words. Only God’s Holy Spirit is able to know everything, even our thoughts.

One night my daughter had nudged me and said to me, “Dad, Dad. There, there, there’s a man standing by the window.” My child had seen it but I had not. I then prayed for God to reveal it to me. After that I saw a man’s shadow standing by that window. So I laid my hand and prayed for my daughter and order that devil in the name of Jesus Christ, “From now on you must not harass my daughter anymore for she belongs to Jesus.” I had consoled and urged my daughter to place confidence and trust in God and not fear anything. I had told her to sleep but she couldn’t close her eyes. She still gazed at that evil spirit walking away and out of the house. She had asked me about that man and I just told her that he was a bad guy. And I also told her that from now on she must not fear him for he couldn’t harass you anymore for she had her Lord Jesus, who had greater power and authority, with her. And she would be kept safe from all ghosts and evil spirits. Since then my daughter has never been disturbed with any spirits anymore.

One more thing we should know is that if you don’t want to be disturbed by the evil spirits, you must not mention them much. Some have even gone so far as to admire them, whether intentionally or unintentionally. Actually, these spirits don’t know everything despite their great numbers. So we must not mention them at all. We should always pray to God, praise God, admire God, and God will be with us. The more we speak about God and praise Him, the nearer to us His Holy Spirit will be, making us strong.

So when you are harassed by the evil spirits, we must not pray for God to help us. We already have been equipped with God’s weapon. That is, order the evil spirits to leave or cast them out “in the name of Jesus the Nazarene, go away!” A great missionary in Thailand has told me that the evil spirits are like dogs, if we fear them they would come and bite us!” For they know who’re afraid of them. The Bible says, “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8)” They have made people fear, terrified, and depressed. But please don’t forget that we have greater authority over them for we belong to Jesus Christ. Please also bear in mind that our Lord Jesus Christ has already defeated Satan.