For many children, their youth is marked by sports, school, and hanging out with friends. But for Rick Hansen, his formative years involved watching his father, a committed minister and former Satanist, perform hundreds of deliverances right in their living room as people were routinely set free from the chains of darkness.
In his memoir, "The Blue Lady: My Personal Encounter with Dark Angels, Demons, and Spiritual Warfare," Hansen shares the harrowing story of how his father, a Spirit-filled Christian, was lured into Satanism by Anton LaVey and for two years aggressively pursued the kingdom of darkness only to be dramatically set free by Christ in an eleventh-hour deliverance.
"Heaven Meets Earth" podcast hosts Abigail Robertson and Ryan Bethea sat down with Hansen as he recounted what it was like growing up in a home where exorcisms were a regular occurrence, where spiritual warfare was tangible, and where angels—towering, radiant, and armed with drawn swords—stood guard outside their home as battles raged within.
Hansen shares that much of his introduction into the spirit realm began with his father, who grew up in a Christian home, but was always drawn to something otherly. He told the hosts that after his father married his mom, he started to take a deeper "trip into the darkness."
"He was always looking for something more, something other than what he had and always very curious... darkly curious. I guess you could say the typical Ouija board, seances. Not that he was involved, but when he tried to use a Ouija board when he was young, he was fascinated by the sense that he got of a power outside himself, which is what he was always looking for. And that was the impetus that drove him," he explained.
Hansen said his father began to complete a religious study on the occult, Eastern mysticism, and "all kinds of stuff outside of Christianity."
"Obviously, Satan is very strategic. He's very smart. He knows us better than we do as far as a human goes...[he] knows where we're weak, knows where we're like, have a leaning towards something. And [those spirits] just push that button again and again. So they knew my dad was very curious, and they brought things to him that kept on triggering the search," he shared.
Hansen said one of the things "they brought" was a television documentary on the Satanic Church. He said a voice instructed his father to turn on the TV.
"He's like, 'Why? Why would I want to turn on the TV?' And he turned on the TV, and they were doing a documentary on the Satanic Church. And right at the point that he turned on the TV, Anton Levy was leading a (Satanic) 'church' service. He's like, 'Wow, that looks really familiar and dark, but very interesting.'"
While watching the program, his father renounced his relationship with God and prayed a prayer inviting Satan in.
Hansen recalls his father telling him, "In that instant, the amount of hatred that flowed into his body was overwhelming. And he put words together that he'd never known, you know, would fit, and started to curse and everything. And he said at God and specifically at Jesus."
"That was the moment that the demons entered him," he shared. "And from that point is when he just accelerated downward in a spiral and full-fledged for a couple of years worshiped Satan in a very deep and personal and private way."
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Hansen recounts that for nearly two years, his father's devotion to the demonic was kept private, but his mother quickly began to notice changes in his behavior.
"His countenance would change. His temper would flare. That loving guy that she knew and loved started to change, [and] become very dark," he recalled.
A Deeper Journey Into Darkness
Hansen describes that once his father made that commitment to the demonic realm, he was sucked in quickly.
As a teacher, his father began to be recognized and encouraged by students who were "third and fourth generation witches."
"Those demons through the kids knew my dad's spirit and [they knew] the demons that were in him were there, and so they would, you know, work together that way," he explained.
Hansen says his father was being driven by a force that he could not control.
"Satan would lure him with these talons, these tricks of power, to draw him in more so that he would give him more. And the more my dad experienced that dark side, the more he wanted to indulge and give [the devil] more."
Hansen says although the enemy asked to have him and his mother, his father always drew the line.
"Satan wanted it all [but] that's where there was a threshold of protection," he said.
Deliverance from Satanism
Hansen said his father was not satisfied with just dabbling in darkness, he wanted more.
"Satan was giving him more and more powers," Hansen shared, but his father was frustrated because he could only go so far. Hansen describes that his father was "blocked" because his mother, who he describes as a "vigilant prayer warrior," was praying for his father and was "in the way."
He recounts that one Sunday, Hansen's father was frustrated with his mom for going to lunch with a friend after church. But that Sunday afternoon became the catalyst for a divine encounter that would change the rest of his life.
"[He] saw the Bible on the bedstand that my mom always put there, grabbed it, threw it against the wall, and just started to cuss and put horrible words together," he described. "He was furious at the name of Jesus."
As rage began to fill his father, an "overwhelming presence entered the room."
"He knew at that point that that was the Lord, and he said, "'What do you want' and God essentially said, 'I want you back,'" Hansen shared with the "Heaven Meets Earth" podcast hosts. "He said from that moment on, he picked up the Bible that he threw against the wall and read Psalms all the way through Proverbs."
Hansen's father cried out to be delivered, and the Lord told him, "I am your exorcist. You call on me."
Hansen says his father's deliverance came from the "Lord – not through his [own] power, but through the power of the cross and the power of the cross only."
His father was quickly delivered from 12 demons, and he made a commitment to spend the rest of his life helping people who were in bondage to darkness.
"In his 80s, he's still doing exorcisms with people," Hansen explained. "But his faith is just so deep and raw and real."
"What I saw in my house in our living room day in and day out was God winning hearts of people," he added.
Hansen warns that Christians need to be careful about the doors they open in their lives.
"I think it's important because the doorways that we let in the spirits are super important for the believers to watch because they usually don't flood in," he explained. "And it's not one open door that changes your life. It's usually a bunch of small open doors, small actions that allow that."
"For example, (my dad's) experience with the Ouija board and with tarot cards and reading all these books, those things plant seeds and those seeds grow and those seeds grow into what you want them to because of what you fertilize it with."
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