This month has taught me a lot about spiritual warfare. I
have always believed that it existed, and I’ve read about demons and spirits in
the Bible, but until now I had never experienced the supernatural to this
degree firsthand. As we have been going door to door in several communities in
the area of San Juan de la Maguana in the Dominican Republic, we have been
repeatedly reminded of how great an effect idolatry, witchcraft, and religious
abuse have had on this place.
This past Monday Team Kaleo left for the village of El
Hatico with several members of the Amanece Dominicano team for a two-day
camping trip. Our plan was to divide into four groups, prayer walk through the
town, and then visit every house as we had been doing in the other villages,
praying for the people and searching for men and women of peace. As we spent
time in El Hatico, however, we all began to see that our plans might have to
change.
The feeling of the place made most people in the group
uneasy, and our ministry was not received as openly as it had been in other
places. We went to people’s houses and talked with them, but it was clear that
they were only telling us what we wanted to hear. If we asked them to tell us
what they thought about God and they started off by assuring us that they had
their altars and praised their saints, and we explained that we believed that
God is the only God, they were quick to change their stories and insist that
they worshipped Him and Him alone. There was a spirit of falseness, confusion,
and even mockery over the whole place.
My group was made up of two members of Amanece Dominicano,
Orlin and Patria, and myself. Toward the end of our day of visiting houses we
came to one where we heard screaming and muttering coming through the window.
As soon as we walked onto the property we all knew something was not right.
Only a little girl came out to meet us, and after explaining that her mother
was busy selling things from her home store, she finally went to get her. The
woman came outside, and without even sitting down to talk to us, said, “Oh, you
must be here to pray for the woman I have in the back,” and promptly led us to
the other side of the house. I must admit I was unprepared for what we found
there.
She took us to a tiny room in the back corner of the house
where a woman of about thirty-five years old was yelling and shaking. The room
was about the size of a typical American bathroom, both sides had doors with
bars on them, and both doors were locked with chains and padlocks. The older
woman explained that the other woman had been like this for some time, and had
something wrong with her nerves. As soon as she saw us she began screaming and
shaking a coverless Bible at us, yelling a mixture of angry Spanish and some
unintelligible language that none of us understood. Orlin looked at me, stated
the obvious fact that something besides her nerves needed prayer, and announced
that I would pray over her. She would not stop yelling, and the older woman
repeatedly screamed at her to be quiet so that we could pray for her. Finally,
I reached through the bars and took her hand, and she immediately went still
and made eye contact with me. I began to pray for her in Spanish, and other
than the occasional twitch, she remained still and quiet through the whole
prayer. When I finished, I looked up, but she had her head down and eyes
closed, and was not moving at all. I asked her how she felt several times
without receiving any response. For at least two minutes I stood there holding
her hand without knowing what I should do. Finally, I let her hand go and she
immediately began yelling and shaking again, grabbing the padlock and waving it
at me and beating the Bible against the door. Orlin explained to the older
woman that a spirit had control over this woman and that they needed to remove
all witchcraft items from the house, and then we left.
Once the whole group was back together we shared what had
happened with the others. Our contact, Miguel, combined things he had
experienced with my story, and decided that the work that needed to be done in
El Hatico was much more extensive than he had previously realized. He decided
that instead of spending another night there we would hike up the mountain
above the village, pray and intercede for the land, and then go back to San
Juan.
During our time of debriefing in San Juan we discussed
everything that we had seen in our two days in El Hatico. We now know that the
entire area is under a very deep spiritual control. Several of us met
demon-possessed people, other people who lied right to our faces, and still
others who rejected even being prayed for. Miguel explained that Christianity
has been confused with religious ritual there because of the poor foundation
laid by previous church-planting efforts. He also told us the story of a very
powerful witch doctor named Olivorio who had once lived up in the hills above
San Juan. The people of this region believed in his healing powers, sought
advice from him instead of believing in God, and even today still pay his remaining
followers to heal the sick or remove demons from possessed people. The entire
region is under a very deep spiritual oppression, and long-term commitment will
be necessary to tear down these foundations and build new ones of truth.
Our prayer for El Hatico is that God will send someone there
to stay until the job is done, live the truth to people everyday, and help them
get free of the religious and spiritual bondage that they are living under. The
time we spent there felt very much like a battle, and although we were relieved
to return to San Juan, we are all thankful for the lessons that we learned.
