Demon Possessed
We had a very unusual visit on Wednesday afternoon soul-winning this week. After making a visit to some regular members who had been sick, we decided to visit their neighbors next door. When we arrived at this neighbor's house, a young boy brought us some chairs to sit on outside of the house. That was not odd, but what was very strange was that the mother stayed inside of the house without coming outside to greet us. East Africans are very relational, and normally they will bring some chairs outside to sit and talk with their guests. This lady never came outside but talked with us from inside of her house. I kept thinking this to be extremely unusual. I wondered if she were not dressed properly, or maybe she was embarrassed because she had not bathed or something.
After making some small talk, we invited her to our church services on Sunday. Then the reason for her strange behavior became apparent. She said that she would be afraid to come to church, and that we would be afraid to have her come. I assured her that we would certainly not be afraid for her to attend our church. She then proceeded to tell us very matter-of-factly that she had invited Shetani (Satan) to live inside of her several years ago. She said that this demon who lived inside of her would be very upset if she dared to attend a church. We tried for about an hour to convince her that God was greater than Satan, and that she had nothing to fear. We shared the Gospel with her, but she was convinced that the devil would not allow her to be saved. This was the first time in over twenty years of ministry that I had ever encountered a person who openly spoke of being demon possessed. It was also strange because she did not become angry or act demon possessed. She seemed very much interested in being delivered from this demon, but she just could not believe that God could save her. She kept telling us that this demon would not allow her to be saved.
My visiting partners and I would like to visit this lady again soon, but we want to be prepared for some real spiritual warfare. Please pray with us for this dear lady who would not give us her name, but God knows who she is. Thank you for standing with us in your prayers for these dear Tanzanian people.