“A Tale of Two Lives”

Recently  we witnessed the stark contrast between salvation and rejection, between forgiveness and judgment, between life and death. 

Pastor Petro received news that a man in his village had died. He was 30 years old. Several years ago, this man had a successful business and was doing quite well. However, he started to drink, and before long, he was a slave to alcohol. Because of his constant drinking he started to have various health issues including a serious skin disease. About a week before his death, Petro went to talk with him about the Lord. He became belligerent and told Petro that he wanted to have nothing to do with Jesus. That week after taking medication for his skin disease, he got drunk. The combination of the medication and the alcohol led to his death. Petro attended his funeral and was shocked to witness this scene. This man’s family and friends took a bottle of alcohol and poured it all over his dead body and even poured some into his mouth as a send off into eternity - sadly he got exactly what he wanted, an eternity without Jesus. 

During the same week that this drunk man went out into eternity lost, a 90 year old witchdoctor came to Christ. In the ten years we have lived in Tanzania, this is only the second witchdoctor that has gotten saved through the ministry of any of our churches, so, it is a very rare occurrence! This man’s family are members of our church. They have witnessed to him about Christ on many occasions along with many attempts by Pastors Petro and Pelegrino to give him the gospel. He was never interested until recently. He was an old man in poor health, and he knew that his time on earth was coming to an end. Petro received word that the man would like him to come visit. Upon arriving at his home, the witchdoctor immediately informed Petro that he had turned to Christ and believed on Him for salvation. Petro was shocked and stunned even further by what took place next. The witchdoctor was bed-ridden at this point and could not do anything for himself. Since he was now a believer in Christ, he wanted to disassociate himself from all of his sorcery practices. He asked Petro to cut off the fetishes on his head, wrists, and ankles which he had worn to identify himself as a witchdoctor and to ward off evil spirits. To do this on his death bed obviously testified that he was trusting in Jesus now and not witchcraft. This all happened on a Monday. On Saturday Petro received news that this former witchdoctor had died and went to heaven. Petro preached his funeral and was able to share with the community this man’s powerful testimony.

“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see 

 life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” 

John 3:36

Powerful Display of God's Word To Change a Life

We witnessed a powerful display of God’s Word to change a life during our week-long revival meeting at the church in Fumagira the week before Christmas. There were a total of 47 adult salvation decisions during the meeting, however, the salvation of one lady demonstrated the mighty power of the Word of God to convict and convert even one held in bondage by Satan.

As we have mentioned many times before, the villages where we are planting churches are steeped in witchcraft. Before hearing the truth of the Gospel, the people in these villages live in constant fear of curses and under the heavy influence of witchdoctors.  They believe the spirits of their deceased ancestors control every aspect of their lives.  They build little wooden huts for these ancestral spirits to live in.  They cook extra food to place in these huts in order to feed their dead ancestors.  The witchdoctors claim that they can communicate with these spirits.  When people experience trouble or what they consider bad luck, they visit the witchdoctor.  He claims that he can appease your dead ancestors in order to change your luck.  In reality, these people are opening up their souls to Satan and his demons.

 
This particular lady who was converted at our revival meeting was invited to this meeting by one of our church members at Fumagira.   We discovered later that this was the first time that this lady had ever attended a church in her entire life.  Kitabo, a preacher from a church in Bariadi, preached on the topic of witchcraft that evening. Kitabo knows all about witchcraft since he was a witchdoctor before becoming a Christian. As his message was coming to a close this lady fell to the ground and began yelling and screaming for almost ten minutes. Pastor Pelegrino and some other leaders in the church calmly took her aside and opened the Word of God. As they did so a guttural animalistic voice uttered unintelligible words from her mouth.  She was obviously being harassed by the forces of evil. At one point her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she went unconscious for a short time. When she came to she couldn’t remember anything that had just happened. They spent the next hour giving this lady the message of the Gospel. She desperately wanted deliverance and received Jesus Christ as her Savior.

 

She instantly became a new creature in Christ! She came every night of these meetings. She attended the Christmas service. She helped the ladies who cooked the meal for the Christmas service. Even her countenance was transformed! She looked like a different person. During our baptismal service on Christmas Day, she publicly declared her faith in Christ and submitted to believer’s baptism.  We are thrilled to report that she continues to faithfully attend our church at Fumagira, and she is growing in grace.  God’s Word has not lost its power. It is still “quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12).

Witchcraft in Tanzania: CNN Report

Click here to view an article/video by CNN 

concerning witchcraft in Tanzania. 

Over the years we have tried to express the spiritual environment that we face as we bring the Gospel message into villages steeped in witchcraft. We have tried to describe and explain the nature of the witchcraft practiced in Tanzanian villages.  We found this CNN "Inside Africa" report to be fair and accurate. There is one part in the report where an actual witchdoctor is interviewed, and  she performs a ceremony of spirit cleansing on camera. Listen to her as she talks about the spirits that control her. Satanism and witchcraft are real, and we fight real demons as we seek to bring the light of the Gospel into villages where Satan has held these people in bondage for hundreds of years.

By Errol Barnett, CNN

October 8, 2012 -- Updated 1655 GMT (0055 HKT)

Casting out demons

Today we heard a commotion just beyond our backyard fence. After listening for a moment we could recognize the all too familiar words of "TOKA, TOKA, KATIKA JINA LA YESU, TOKA!" In English this means "out, out, in the name of Jesus come out!" 

Casting out demons is a huge practice in Tanzania. I'm not saying there isn't demon possession and obsession, especially in a  animistic society like Tanzania. However, it is often screamed over and over again, only to be done the following week because it didn't work.

As we heard the lady crying out and the man shouting toka, Bill decided to take Pastor Pelegrino with him to see what was going on. They found a woman tied up and flailing in the dirt. The man casting out the demon was shouting loudly, with sweat dripping down his forehead. This went on for some time when he finally gave up. 

That is when Bill stepped into the kibanda (little open hut) with his Bible. As soon as he began sharing from the Word of God the woman stopped wailing and flailing in the dirt. They untied her and she sat up in her right mind. She was able to listen and answer questions. Bill proceeded to share the gospel with her. She didn't get saved, but she definitely heard the Truth!

Afterward Bill pulled the man aside who had been trying to cast out the demon. He told him, "Brother, you have no power in yourself to cast out a demon. It is the Word of God that has power! You just saw for yourself the power the Word has."

Now we can't say if this woman really and truly is possessed by a demon. However, we do know that God uses His Word and we'll continue to wield the powerful Sword of the Spirit as we fight against our enemy!

Salvation and a charm bracelet

Witnessing in Tanzania is nothing like in America. When we arrive at someone's hut we are offered the best seat available - usually a roughly made wooden chair. We sit outside and neighbors begin to gather. Yesterday was no exception. As Pastor Musa and I opened God's Word to share the Good News of the Gospel about 15 people gathered around to listen. One man in particular was especially attentive. About an hour later this young man said he wanted to receive Christ as his Savior.  

PRAISE THE LORD!

The next thing that happened has never happened to me personally. This young man, without us even talking about it, pulled off his charm (arm bracelet) and threw it down. He said now he didn't need a charm to ward off evil spirits anymore. Shall we say it again...

PRAISE THE LORD!

Please pray for Simoni to grow in his faith.