PART ONE: BIRTH, BOYHOOD AND YOUTH
Birth: Darrell Robert Ginther was born in 1934, to Pearl and Robert Ginther in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He was the first of seven children of that union. His was an unusual birth, but even his prenatal period was not normal. His mother, while pregnant, fell down church steps, and later her system became toxic, and the hospital nurse informed her that she had an option. She could have an abortion. Much surprised, Pearl Ginther looked at the room full of patients, and said, "You mean all these are here for abortions?" The lady doctor nodded. "No, I would never do that, I want the baby," Pearl told her. The doctor replied, that if she wanted to keep the baby, she would have to drink a huge quantity of fresh lemon juice every day. Pearl agreed to it, and Bob bought all the lemons available, and Pearl drank gallons of the lemon juice and the life-threatening toxic condition was cured. Later, at birth, they found the reason for the toxic condition. There was not one baby but two! A tiny twin sister was curled up on the chest of Darrell, but she was dead. Apparently, she had been damaged in the mother's fall down the unlighted church steps. There was also an unusual sign of a caul, a fold of skin that descended from Darrell's forehead and over his face. The caul covered the sister as well. Pearl, being told about it, did not know what it was, and the experienced nurse said it was a sign that the baby would become an unusual person, and it was mentioned in the Bible. Many years later, the mother said (very seriously) that she could never have handled both Darrell and a twin sister at the same time, so the taking of the sister was mercy of God.
Darrell's life has altogether proven out the experienced nurse's wise words, in that his life has been unusual in all respects, and can even be called extraordinary in its effects upon hundreds and probably thousands of people over a course of six decades. One or two incidents for now can depict the truth of this. Not long ago Darrell was singing on a city street a gospel song. A black man approached him, and asked if he could hug Darrell. The man asked Darrell three times. Darrell, impressed, said yes. The man hugged Darrell, and said that he wanted Darrell to know that when Darrell was singing he felt all the hate in his body suddenly lift right out of him. He was delivered by God Almighty from terrible hatred. The man went away rejoicing. Another time, in downtown Seattle around Halloween, Darrell encountered a big group of young people, and he sang songs to them he made up about pumpkins. Intrigued and highly amused, they followed him, and like a Pied Piper he led them straight into a church service, where they sat down just as the lady pastor-evangelist was preaching. Challenged by the sight of all these young people, she preached powerfully, and so effectively that they were all convicted of sin, acknowledged their need of a Savior, and came to a saving knowledge of the Lord right then and there in that service, in a public demonstration that Darrell's street ministry could produce some powerful effects in the most unusual ways. Darrell told his brother Ronald about this and said he was much encouraged that the Lord had shown him some visible fruits of his street ministering, since oftentimes street ministers such as Darrell see little or no conversions for long stretches, while receiving opposition from police, hecklers, and mainly cold indifference by passing crowds. This is just two of thousands of incidents that, if they could have been recorded, would fill many books, not just three pages of a website, and on the basis of which it is not a understatement to call Darrell a "Prince of Zion," a precious jewel of Christian knighthood that God fashioned for unusual works in spreading the Gospel and the cheer of Christ in the dark places where even angels might fear to tread. Evenso, Darrell, we know, would not want to be glorified in this account. Rather, his account is for the Lord's glory. To that end this ministry page is dedicated and composed by Ronald Ginther, Darrell Ginther, and Cora Stadem Taylor (an aunt to Darrell, and a lifetime missionary to Brazil, still serving on the mission field at the age of 82 in 1999)
The mother recalls that Darrell was a restless child, he would never be still when she was holding him, he was always squirming and moving. The aunt can be quoted concerning his boyhood problems and difficulties: "Darrell is my nephew. His mother is my oldest sister. She married a new Christian [who] was raised in a wicked home when a boy...[Nevertheless,] the third generation was a beautiful baby boy [Darrell had remarkably good looks and intelligent eyes and enormous funds of energy from the earliest age] that came into my sister's home...Much of my youth was spent living near or with the parents of Darrell. I shared the joys and also the problems and sorrows he was to them. One thing I noticed, he was a very nervous child. Nap time was almost an impossibility. If he was quiet when his mother put him down for a nap in the afternoon, we would be assured he was up to something wrong. If I remember right he was a little more than a year old when he stretched his little arm to full length to reach the dresser scarf and by that time, he could pull to him anything he wanted. Then he would open the bottles of perfume to empty them and open the jars of cream and smear it over everything in his reach. Sleep would not come so he had to pass the time doing something. One day we found him quietly sitting in his baby bed beside a pile of feathers. He was working them out of the end of his pillow. He had a tremendous pile when we caught him. Now his parents knew the Scriptures and applied the rod after much prayer and counseling.
"When Darrell was about four years of age he would skip out early in the morning and go from door to door emptying the milk bottles of coins and putting them in hiding until he could sneak away to the store later to buy candy. One day his father came home with his weekly pay and put the money away in a drawer. Shortly after this a Christian family drove up to the house and asked if they could take the little fellow for a ride and let him spend some hours at their home. His folks agreed. About an hour later Darrell's dad received a telephone call asking him if he was missing a roll of money. He went to look and it was gone. The man went on to explain he was playing with Darrell in the back yard and when he lifted him up by the heels all that money rolled out on the grass. His sneaky ways were abnormal for his age, we all thought.[Darrell, sent by his parents to deliver some eggs, would carefully open and suck out the contents, then put each eggshell back unbroken and deliver the carton!--Editors]
"While living with Darrell's folks [in Sioux Falls] I had Child Evangelism classes in their lovely yard and weekly we had the privilege of dealing with the souls of many children. Darrell was my willing helper. He was not always a problem. He was a two personality person. He was fast to repent, so before he went to school he took the Lord Jesus as Savior. He had much respect for God's word and showed real conviction of sin when dealt with. School days came and together with the teachers, Darrell suffered. Many a time he would be sent home and his parents gave much counsel and discipline. We would look into the face of that crying child and would see repentance and take courage that he had changed. Then back to school he would go just to be sent home again stating he would not obey.
"By now Darrell had several sisters and brothers. They were a normal bunch and much joy to their parents. They were raised in Church and Sunday School along with him. Years passed and we had no contact with Darrell, except for a letter almost unreadable once in a while and many letters from his dear mother. She always showed a real concern and confusion as to why he acted so. The thing that touched my heart was her humility in seeking for help and prayer. The year before our family left [Cora and her husband Carl, with their children] for the mission field there developed a tremendous hunger to learn all about oppression, obsession and possession. I had the idea that just when I would reach a strange land I would meet up with [demon] possessed people. I wanted to learn all the Word had to teach me on that subject. I was ignorant of Darrell's problem and could not help him. One thing I thought I could be sure of was that a Christian could not be demon-possessed and especially a child born into a Christian family. Then to make matters worse, Darrell's father was killed in his own airplane. He then began saying things after that that were incoherent. His intelligence test when he was about eighteen showed he had the mind of a six year old. The Lord opened our eyes on the mission field to many cases of demon possession. Our family expelled many demons from many Christians. My confusion left me when I learned that when a possessed person accepted the Lord Jesus as his Savior, the demon would have to leave the spirit of that person but would stay in the body, sometimes. This cleared up to me why some Christians become possessed after their salvation. They had given room to the devil, and he takes all he can get--Ephesians 4:27: 'Neither give place to the devil.'"--Cora Stadem-Taylor, Introduction to DELIVERED FROM THE POWERS OF DARKNESS by Darrell R. Ginther, printed 1968.
Since 1968 when the Introduction was written by Cora Stadem-Taylor, it became known by the doctors dealing with Darrell that he suffered from a chemical-defficiency disease called manic-depression, a mental and physical disorder brought on by the absence of a mineral salt in the brain called lithium. Lithium is prescribed to manic-depressives, and this restores to the brain the vital chemical that the brain needs. Without it, the person suffers from hyperactivity one one hand and then a severely depressed mental and physical condition. Darrell suffered mainly the manic phase, without the consequent swing down from the "high" to the "low" of depression. [A book titlled MOODSWINGS describes this two-phased disease--Editors] Manic-depressives evidence high energy and can sustain it for long periods, which makes them very successful in careers such as business where long hours can make a person succeed where others will likely fall behind if they don't invest the necessary time and energy to get the best of a competitor. To come down from the extremely high level of energy is difficult and almost impossible. To sleep, these people, who do not know they are manic-depressives, resort to alcohol or drugs in many cases. They continue this way for years, climbing corporate ladders, and often making a great deal of money. But the mood swings get worse, and high energy and good feelings are replaced by, more and more, no energy and nightmarish gloom and dejection. Alcohol is used, and maybe drugs too, but even though they can soften some effects they cannot cure the swings and eventually make them worse. The unfortunate, sick person ends up an addict or alcoholic with all the damage to the person's body, mind, and family that this can produce. Lacking a simple mineral salt, these people and others around them are put to the most severe test by increasingly wild, disorderly, destructive behavior--behavior nobody can really explain if they don't have the condition correctly identified by diagnosis. Information on this widespread disease says that millions of Americans go undiagnosed, and suffer from it. Darrell suffered from 1934, apparently, until sometime into the 1970s or 1980s, when his condition was identified as manic-depression and he was started on prescription lithium.
The second thing that complicated the manic-depression was what Aunt Cora Taylor described as demon possession. How did a boy in a Christian family ever fall to this influence? Was it the mother's fall down church steps that damaged the unborn Darrell, not only causing the manic-depression but somehow opening the child to demonic influences? Unless a demon is believed, it cannot be known this side of heaven. But just as his manic-depression might have begun before birth, his demon-possession might have started sometime in boyhood, or shortly after he reached twelve. Perhaps, the trauma of his father's sudden, violent death in a plane crash provided the psychological damage that pushed twelve-year-old Darrell into a spirit realm where he proved unable to resist the influences he encountered there. It is known to the editor, Ronald Ginther, that Darrell can see demons where people around him see only air. The brother sat with him once for a film in an old landmark theater called the Pantages, which is located in downtown Tacoma, Washington. Darrell grew agitated and terrified, leaning this way and that, as he evidently tried to avoid something swooping at him. He begged his brother, that they should get up and leave immediately. Here, they had just sat down, and the brother could not understand Darrell, just observing the look of wide-eyed terror and the way he ducked as if something was flying at him that was unspeakably horrible to see. This was no act. Darrell was observing the demon spirits in that old theater, just as young children, usually before four years of age, readily see angels as well as any demons that are present. Later, this ability passes, and the children forget what they have seen, but Darrell possessed this ability well up into this adulthood, and he may possess it still, though he does not discuss it with anyone in the family. Now this ability is not mentioned here to be sensational. This is stated to show that Darrell may well have been in daily contact with the spirit realm from a very early age, and just may account for some or much or even all of his erratic, abnormal behavior that so mystified his family and relatives as to its cause. He has stated that he heard voices that told him to take things, and so he obeyed them and got into trouble many times.
Youth and Early Adulthood: Darrell describes his own reaction to his fathers death. "Many years ago my father was killed in an airplane accident. His death was such a severe mental blow to me, as to be one of the causes resulting in a severe mental breakdown that one of the members of my family took steps to have me committed to a state mental institution, referred to hereafter as the state hospital. I was so ill that at times the attendants found it necessary to strap me in a strait jacket. This was my first stay at a mental institution, and I remained there for a year. I was given the best of care, including electroshock treatments, of which I received a total of thirty treatments. Such a treatment would cause me to become unconscious for a certain number of minutes. I would wake up foaming at the mouth, but hungry for a meal. After receiving these treatments, a young doctor came to me, and asked me if I would sign a consent for one more treatment. I refused with a firm, 'No!'"
After his father's death, his mother decided it would be best to send her two oldest boys to stay with Grandpa Alfred Stadem and Grandma Bergit on Plain View Farm. This arrangement had its ups and downs. Darrell recalls that he did not always do what pleased Grandpa, and got into trouble with his various antics and pranks. Once Darrell climbed on his Grandpa's lap, hugging him, only to be told that he had shown nothing that day but a "big I." Darrell never forgot that rebuke, and did not deny that it was true of him. Grandpa Alfred Stadem, who favored a strict discipline, did not always understand Darrell, who was very unstable after his dad's totally unexpected, sudden death. He was enrolled in Augustana Academy, but his mental condition further deteriorated, and he could not finish. His uncle and grandfather committed Darrell to an asylum when it became evident that Darrell was mentally deranged and maybe a menace to himself. Once he slipped into a huge hole excavated in a sidewalk, with no warning signs or barriers around it, and he might have been killed, but he only suffered minor injuries. Wild juveniles in town took advantage of him, getting him to take a car, which Darrell took. Of course, the authorities held Darrell responsible, and the real culprits got away.
Darrell's uncle saw that Darrell was not responsible any longer or his acts and tried to do what was humanly possible for him to help him, but it would be many years before there would be improvement for Darrell, with periods of mental health followed by relapses into wild behavior and mental unbalance. No one guessed part of his problem was a thing that would later be called manic-depression. One aspect was identified by the aunt: demon-possession or demonic influence. But first Darrell's account of his first bad mental crash on the farm and a memborable experience that gave Darrell a lasting, good impresson: "While on my grandfather's farm, I took sick and they took me to yet a different State Hospital. There I was committed and remained for one year. I remember a doctor took me out late one evening. I asked where he was taking me, and he said, 'outside.' It was a clear starlit evening with thousands of stars in the heavens. He told me to look up in the sky, which I did. He said, 'Just look'. That was all he said. As I gazed up into the sky, I couldn't help believe there was a God who created all things, even me. I never saw that little doctor again, but I cannot help recalling that evening as we gazed together up at the sky and saw all of God's stars. He must have wanted me to know there was a higher power that we could put our trust and faith in outside of our little world. Truly, it has been a memory to cherish many times and to ponder concerning the great Creator who is our Father God."
Darrell as a young boy was a prey to older men in the state hospitals. He loathed their degenerate behavior toward him, and pleaded with the hospital authorities to protect him. Finally, they acted on his behalf, though it was routine for older men to prey on the younger ones sexually and was oftentimes overlooked. This is a bad memory, and he has other kinds as well, but he also had many interesting experiences which he liked and can remember with some pleasure. Darrell's own problems were, however, compounded, by what is described as demon-possession. His aunt continues: "Then I became convinced Darrell was demon possessed and began to ask the Lord to send someone to help him. I wrote letters to many loved ones and got before the Lord daily on his behalf. By this time he had been in and out of jails many times, and was now in the prison part of an asylum. One of my sisters living the closest did much to help him. She and her husband got permission to take him home with them and gave him work on the grounds. They were faithful in counseling and praying for him. He had become a slave to much vice as he had lived in one room with eighty fellows...My sister and family suffered much with him in their home. By this time he was the servant of demons including the demon of religion and the demon of much talking. My sister said it was his much talking that was intolerable. He talked incessantly about religious things. He was not a good listener, and he knew no rest in the Lord. He was right in his witnessing at times, but terribly overbearing and people would walk off. One time he stopped a children's school bus and got in and started to give out tracts to everyone when he was ordered off.
"Time came for furlough and my husband and I decided to visit Darrell. We stopped by to get this sister when she told us what she had undergone with Darrell in their home [perhaps, the result of the religious demon, Darrell constructed altars out of masses of toilet tissue and towels and anything else he could find in the bathroom, for instance, and was always preaching, even when no one was in the room to hear him!--Editors]. One day it was worse than before. Everywhere she went in the house he followed her and talked until she was about to scream. He should have been outdoors working but he never could hold down a steady job, though he had a strong body. She had had enough and asked him to please go and get a book and go in the living room and read. He was shocked and said, 'Aunty, are you mad at me? I'm sorry.' She said, 'Darrell, you tire me with your much talking.' He went into her spacious living room and she heard him as though he was preaching. She peered around the corner and saw him, such a big fellow, standing on her lovely davenport, Bible in hand, his eyes looking into space, preaching as though he was addressing a thousand souls. She screamed, 'Darrell, stop that and get down off my davenport. You better settle down, or I will have to call the police to lock you up again.' He stared at her. 'Police, oh no!' He gasped and ran from the house, down the hill like a deer running from his foe. She called the police for his own protection, and Darrell went back to the Pen. I asked her why she hadn't dealt with the demons in his body and she said, 'I just didn't know how to go about it.' We were allowed to talk to him only with a guard at his side. I questioned him about his desire to be free. He was very self-sufficient at that time and refused to believe he could be possessed. He said, 'Aunty, I'm saved. I know I am, so I couldn't have demons.' He said he was happy there. The food satisfied him and he was playing on the football team. He showed no need for our help. When my husband questioned him about his bad conduct and the reason for him being a prisoner, it was interesting to hear him tell things that happened to him because he was left without an explanation.
"Here is one of his own experiences he told us that day before the guard: 'I was heading home by foot one night. It was raining. I heard a voice, 'Darrell, why don't you take that car beside you there, then you won't get wet.' I jerked around to see who was talking and there was absolutely no one. The voice again said, 'Take the car, the keys are in it.' He said, 'Uncle, I didn't want that car. Dad had a car, but I just wanted to see if that voice knew what he was talking about, so I opened the car door to look for the keys and something pushed me into the seat and before I realized it, I started the car and hadn't gone but a few blocks and I heard the police wagon beside me come to pick me up. Believe me, Uncle, I did not want the car.' Darrell looked bewildered. The guard kept a straight face. I said, 'Darrell, I know you didn't want the car. The demons are pushing you around.' We left the Pen that day, and my heart was broken for Darrell.
"Five years later furlough [leave granted from the mission field to return home for recuperation and various church and mission meetings--Editors] came again. This time we were armed with the whole Armor of God and had prepared Darrell in prayer and resisting the demon forces for him as in James 4:7. We went back to the same place determined to expel the demons from him in the Name of Jesus and for His Glory. This time we added my father to our forces. It was coldest day I have remembered in the States and when we [Cora and Carl Taylor, Papa Alfred Stadem, and Myrtle Stadem-Svanoe--Editors] asked to visit him they informed us he was out for a walk. We prayed believing for his soon return as our time was limited. He came in bent over like an old man, dejected, scared, oppressed and thin. The first thing he saw was my father and he thrust his arms around him and said, 'Oh, Grandpa, the Holy Spirit is torturing me night and day. I just can't sleep.' I said, 'Darrell, that's not the Holy Spirit, that's demons doing that to you.' He looked over at me and said, 'Oh, Aunty, you're back from the Foreign Field! Yes, you could be right because I'm being tortured. I have no rest.' We informed him we had come to help him but we must have cooperation from him [website guests reading this: note the major difference in Darrell's attitude here, from a prior, almost cocky self-sufficiency to a humble, desperate desire to seek help from his loved ones who had come to give it the best they knew how--Editors]. He consented.
"We were in the Prison waiting room. We knew nothing could be accomplished there, so we would need to ask for a private room. I walked toward the desk I remember rebuking the the hindering demons and prayed, 'Lord, perform a miracle and give us a place alone with Darrell.' I approached the desk and asked, 'Please, ma'am, would you give us a private room where we could be alone with my nephew for a few minutes we have left?' She looked disgusted with my request and said, 'Impossible! Don't you know you are in a prison? Never have we allowed such a thing.' I said, 'Yes, ma'am, I know, but I am his aunt and I get to see him just once in five years when we come home on furlough. Please, ma'am,' I cried. She arose and said, 'Come quickly.' She pushed all five of us into the first room she found. We praised God.
"Right away my sister [Myrtle Stadem-Svanoe--Editors] checked us all out to see if we were walking in the Light with one another and with the Lord as in I John 1:17--'If we walk in the Light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son cleanseth us from all sin.' When she was satisfied, my husband questioned Darrell again as to whether or not he had assurance of salvation. His answer was the same as before. He had taken the Lord as Savior, but when he was tortured by the powers of darkness and had fallen into sin he would cry out for mercy and settle his account with the Lord many a time.
"Then the much-talking demon took over and wanted to delay us. He was imitating the voice of Darrell. We commanded him to keep quiet in the Name of Jesus and began. Then it must have been the religious demon speaking when he stopped us and said, 'I must pray on my knees, I can't pray sitting up.' We went to our knees and my husband began to pray. As soon as the blood of the Lord Jesus was mentioned Darrell's face turned so devilish there could be no doubt by anyone that saw him that he was possessed [website visitors: she is absolutely right, there can be no doubt, since in such a case you are looking at an entirely alien being, an inhuman entity, and its ferocity and hostility are indescribable, and the pride and arrogance shown by them goes beyond the capability of the unfortunate people they possess--Editors]. They became furious! They tried to throw his body to the floor, but we held him kneeling at the bedside.
"The battle went on and no demon would leave. We then tried what Jesus did in Mark 5:9--'And he asked him, what is thy name? and they answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.' This worked, and the demon answered, 'Carsas.' I said, 'In the same of Jesus give your right name.' He defied my doubing him and said, 'It's Carsas, I tell you it's Carsas.' Later, Darrell's mother informs us she found that name in some Bible dictionary to mean, 'Many-Many.' We then demanded Carsas [It is interesting that 'Carcas,' which has a very similar spelling, is an angel of confusion listed in a dictionary of angels--Editors] to leave with all the rest of the demons and he cried, 'Oh, no, I don't want to leave him. He has been such a good servant all these years. He is mine. I just can't leave him.' I commanded him to tell the truth and answer when he entered into Darrell. He answered, 'I came into him in his mother's womb.' The mystery was solved. This was the answer. The confusion was gone. The Lord is not the author of it and wanted to teach us these things years ago...The demon became furious again and said, 'I'm going to leave, but I'll kill him on the way out.' Darrell began to choke. He turned red. He swung his head gasping for air. It wasn't until this year [1968] I thought through what could have happened to us had he died there. I was rejoicing because we had all at our disposal for Darrell's protection. So we, in the Name of Jesus covered him with the protection of the Blood and commanded the demon to stop his dirty work in the Name of the Almighty One. The demon quit and said, 'Oh, that awful blood.' We reminded him he was defeated at Calvary when the Lord Jesus died and rose again. He admitted it but begged to stay as he wanted to be faithful to Lucifer. One time he turned Darrell's head toward me and said, 'I hate you.' I said, 'Praise God, I'm glad to be hated by the demon forces.'
"The siren blew and our time was up. We had not cast out one demon. Darrell was in a type of coma and began to speak, sayng, 'Oh, don't leave me now! I heard everything the demon said. Now I know I'm possessed. Don't leave now.' Quickly I asked the Lord for words. I said, 'Darrell, we must go but Jesus will stay with you and we promise to pray and fast until you are free.' Darrell was comforted. We drove off praising the Lord. One reason was that now all four of us were agreed. Hadn't the Lord said in Matthew 18:19: 'Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything they shall ask, it shall be Father which is in heaven.' The time had come for his release. Praise God."--From "Introduction by Cora Stadem-Taylor" to DELIVERED FROM THE POWERS OF DARKNESS, by Darrell R. Ginther, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1968
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