“I Had an Intense Desire to Read the Bible”

In a clip recently released on YouTube, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson was asked a very important question while being interviewed for a forthcoming documentary: “Do you think the presence of evil is kickstarting people to wonder about the good?”

Carlson said yes — that’s how he came to take God more seriously. But when he got into specifics, I don’t think the interviewer was ready for what Carlson had to share.

Instead of talking about being illegally spied on, or getting fired from his job at Fox, Carlson went on to say he was attacked by a demon — and that he has the scars to prove it.

Carlson said he was “physically mauled” by a demon during the night. The encounter began when he woke up feeling like he was being suffocated. After getting up and walking around, he said he felt a “terrible pain” on his ribs. After venturing into the washroom and looking in the mirror he noticed bleeding claw marks on several areas of his upper body.

He went back to bed, only to wake up in the morning thinking it had all been a dream. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. The bloodstains were real, leaving an eerie reminder of the spiritual realm that Carson had yet to explore.

Unprepared for the Spirit Realm

Tucker’s faith background prior to that encounter was probably superficial at best. He previously called himself an Episcopalian Christian (which veers heavily toward liberal values and politics) and said that his tradition didn’t really talk about the demonic or the supernatural.

But the experience drove him to run to God and experience Him more personally; “I had an intense desire to read the Bible,” he said.

The world may scoff at Carlson’s story, but from a biblical point of view it makes perfect sense. God often uses afflictions, whether natural or spiritual, to wake people from the slumber of lukewarm faith.

What the World Says

From a materialist point of view, Carlson was either hallucinating during this experience — or lying about it afterward. But it might surprise people to know that his experience isn’t that uncommon.

Approximately one in five people experience something similar, often labeled “sleep paralysis.” The medical community will sometimes even call it a “sleep demon.” Like Carlson, people say they wake up in the night feeling suffocated, paralyzed, like something is pushing on their chest, and sense a dark presence in the room. About 75% of those encounters include seeing or hearing some kind of demonic being.

The mainstream medical community believes these are all just symptoms of sleep disorders like narcolepsy or hypersomnia. But even then, they are at a loss to explain how these kinds of encounters occur. It’s also interesting to note that there appears to be a strong connection between sleep paralysis and conditions like anxiety, depression, and PTSD. I personally used to work among a marginalized community that suffered from a lot of generational traumas, and would often hear stories like Carlson’s.

As Christians we don’t need to evade the obvious. Our worldview doesn’t outlaw the supernatural; it explains it.

We also know that on the cross, Jesus defeated and disempowered the powers of darkness forever (Colossians 2:15). Whatever attacked Carlson has no authority in the life of a real believer. So while Carlson’s experience may have been scary, we can be thankful for the powerful effect it had on his life. From a faith background that seemed to be paper-thin, he now can see who humanity’s greatest enemies really are. Let’s pray that he keeps fighting the good fight.

Angelos Kyriakides is a husband, father, pastor, and apologist who lives in Southern Ontario, Canada. He holds a master’s degree in Theological Studies from Regent College and has a special focus on secularization, science, and faith. You can catch more of his content at www.therightstory.org 

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