Dramatic Deliverance

One of my experiences with spiritual warfare came early in my ministry. It happened right after we did a crusade in a nearby village. The crusade was very successful. People gave their lives to Jesus, there were healings, and people were filled with the Spirit. After the event, the village’s witchdoctors performed a ritual during which they killed a goat. While the ritual was taking place, no one in the village was allowed to use electricity. But, being a visitor, I didn’t know, so I had the electricity on where I was staying.

Suddenly the witchdoctors surrounded the place where I was staying and began cursing me. I won’t lie, I was scared. As a child I had heard all kinds of stories about what the witchdoctors can do to you. I’d heard they can turn you into an animal, or take on the form of an animal themselves and attack you. It felt like the atmosphere was charged with evil. My legs were weak and trembling, but the passage from Isaiah 54:17 came to me. “No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.” I began to quote the verse, trembling at first, but more and more confident each time I said it. What happened next was amazing. I saw a flash of lightning strike the place next to where they were standing. This is in a part of the world where it hardly ever rains and there was no rain that day. They were terrified and ran off.

The next day the chief of the village came to see me. He said, “What’s your secret, young man?” I said there was no secret, just Jesus. So he gave his heart to Jesus.

In Africa we realize that there are spiritual forces at work. The Bible tells us that the things that are seen were made from the things that are not seen, so the spiritual realm is even more real than the physical one. The church is not a natural organization; it is a spiritual body. And we have enemies. God sets up his kingdom but Satan also sets up his own to challenge it. I’m not the kind of person that sees a demon behind everything, but I think sometimes we fail to understand that many people are under demonic influence, even Christians. As pastors we can have all the right words, the right environment in our churches, the right conditions for worship, naturally speaking. But if the spiritual realm is not taken care of, our labor is in vain. It’s crucial to address our spiritual opposition with the Word of God and with prayer.

To go deeper, see our recommended resources on spiritual warfare.

-Tunde Bolanta pastor and founder of Restoration Ministries, Kaduna, Kenya