Several weeks ago during a ‘listening to Scripture’ visit at Mama Federiko’s house, a different neighbour came by and sat down to listen. When the player was turned off she turned to me and asked me if I remembered her. I was a little embarrassed to admit that I did not. She then reminded me of the day several months back when I was called out to another village to attend to several victims who had been callously cut with a machete by a crazed and demon possessed young 22 year old male. There were 3 victims, one died at the scene after her arm was hacked off, one had her Achilles tendon severed and the other was the young man’s mother who had head and shoulder cuts. How could I forget that incident? I remember being told how it took several men to subdue this young man and it reminded me of the man in the tombs in the village of the Gadarenes who had to be chained to protect himself and others because of the demons who ruled him.
This woman now sitting opposite me was the young man’s mother. Her name is Sebastiana. She showed me the physical scars of her wounds and shared her heartache over her eldest son’s situation and involvement in witchcraft. He is in prison now, aware of himself and waiting for his case to come before a court. He has no recollection of what he did. Sebastiana told me that until that incident happened she only went to the Catholic Church sporadically but since then she’s been hungry for the Word and wanting to study the Bible and learn how to live right. She asked me if I had a Bible I could give her. She wanted to take it to her son in prison who was spending time with a catechist and she wanted one for herself so she could look up the Scripture verses she was being given by the catechist in our village.
She then asked me if I thought her son could be saved. I told her that only Jesus can save his soul no matter what happens to his body. She asked me how that could be and I had the opportunity to explain the gospel in simple but clear terms. She nodded her head and said “Yes that’s right”. I wasn’t sure where she stood in her relationship with Jesus and what she actually understood about receiving Jesus as her Saviour. When we had finished talking I asked her if she would like me to pray for her and for her son. She willingly agreed and as I was praying for them to find a relationship with Jesus she was repeating every single word I was saying.
Sebastiana now has a Bible to study and so does her son John in prison. Please pray for them both. God alone can turn this situation into one that frees them both from Satan’s grip and witness to Christ’s saving power to everyone else around them.
