It was our last Sunday in Uganda and my eye was bothering me, my stomach was hurting and this little voice in my head was tempting me to stay home and sleep. I chose to go to church instead. When we walked in it was unlike anything we have seen so far: the kids were dancing, the people were jumping, everyone was singing and this one guy was krumping on stage. (Krumping for Jesus, who would have thought that was possible?) After lunch we went evangelizing in the area and I got paired up with Pastor Krumper (He had a real name of course but it was Ugandan and I never really caught it.) His dancing was definitely a glimpse into his passion for Jesus and evangelizing with him was unlike anything I have experienced so far.
At one point we talked to this Muslim boy and girl and they decided they didn’t want to believe in Jesus. Before we left I gave them this challenge, I asked them to tell me something that they have been praying to Allah for that he hasn’t answered and I would pray that same prayer to Jesus. We agreed that if it came true in the next week they would believe in Jesus. They asked me to pray that the woman’s husband would get out of jail. I believe that God will glorify His Name and show them His power and grace.
Everywhere we went it seemed like Krumper and I were drawn to the same people, that is, until this next group. This was the first time I felt hesitant and intimidated all day, and then he told me what the building next to them was: the witch’s shrine.
When we got there I asked if they had ever heard about Jesus. One guy said “of course”, another said “never” and the rest just continued playing their game. We shared with them for a while the truth of the Gospel and we started drawing a crowd around us. By the end we had about seven kids, a mother and her four children and the group of guys we originally approached hanging on our words. Both of the men bowed their heads when we were finished and asked us if they could pray to receive Christ.
Meanwhile the witch showed up.
He kept coming in and out of his shrine and arguing with us. I wasn’t surprised that he was aggressive towards us but I was shocked at what he was saying: that he knows God and likes Him and has never done anything against Him. He also told us that he used to be “Born Again” and that he has read the Bible many times. He didn’t like it so much when we told Him that God is a jealous God, you can have none before Him… and He doesn’t like sorcery. He didn’t want to listen to us or even really talk with us. He just kept barging into our conversations, yelling that he liked Jesus and then walking away.
It was an incredible scene. We were standing so close to this witch’s shrine that I could have reached out and touched it, this was darkness’s playground and home field. And we declared that Jesus Christ is Lord and led two men to Christ, right there!
On the walk back to the church Pastor Krumper told me these awesome stories about witchcraft in the area. Six months ago the church waged spiritual warfare on the witching community and prayed that God wouldn’t let them remain on His ground. They prayed that the witches in the area would convert, move or die and over the past six months three have converted, many have moved, and one has even died. The man we met was actually the junior witch who has taken over for the senior witch that just passed away.
God, however, has been fighting witchcraft in this area for longer than six months. Three years ago a witch gathered a bunch of fellow witches together to go and curse the church. When they got there the lead witch stepped inside and immediately saw fire fall from heaven and a man dressed in white with an incredibly sharp sword. He instantly fell to the ground and started wailing and screaming. The Christians heard it and came outside to find him in this state. They prayed over him and delivered him from a bunch of demons and he prayed to receive Christ. From that day on he was completely on fire for God and went around preaching the Gospel everywhere he went. He also changed his name to “I Have Seen The Light”.
These are some of the experiences I came on the Race for. To SEE God fight the devil and to hear stories of His victory. I really didn’t think I would like this country… I was so wrong.
