Spiritual Warfare. Most Christians in the West hear that term and
instantly think of crazy over-the-top charismatics, or some witchdoctor
sitting in a smoke hut communing with the dead. However, here in
Africa, Spiritual Warfare is common jargon among Christians because it
is something that they face literally everyday. Here, it is more
common for people to seek the help of a witchdoctor than it is to see a
medical practitioner. People face spirits everyday. This week we have
been working in Bugobi, Uganda, a small bush town. Within a few hours
of being here we learned that it is a common practice for parents to
commit their newborns to the service of demons within hours of their
birth. Children wear amulets and bracelets demonstrating their pledge
to evil spirits. There are also people who practice child sacrifices
in order to appease the evil spirits. Literally everyone is walking
around under spiritual oppression and the Christians are bright lights
amidst a very dark environment. The people here worship demons and
believe that any health and wealth they have comes from them. In as
much as the people worship demons, they are also terrified of evil
spirits. They have many rituals and practices in order to keep the
evil spirits away. They are in such bondage and deception that they do
not realize that the thing they worship is the very thing they are
afraid of.
As Christians, we have to daily put on the armor of God. We are in
the middle of a battle here, and at times we can literally feel the
enemy at our heals. The first night in Uganda, we knew something was
wrong. Many of us were plagued by the spirit of fear and were
oppressed at night. Last week I slept a total of about five hours. We
could hear people screaming at night, and their chants drifted in with
the wind. The enemy was fighting very hard to get us to leave.
However, we are not children of the darkness, but children of the
Light. (1 John 1). We don’t have to walk in fear because there is no
fear in Christ Jesus. I never thought I would become one of “those”
Christians, but I constantly find myself rebuking the spirit of fear.
Yesterday I found myself casting the spirit of infirmity off of my
teammate who was feeling sick. It is common for me to begin a praying
for someone on the street, “I rebuke every spirit of witchcraft on this
person, you have no power here.” In Africa, everything is spiritual.
Illnesses are very rarely just illnesses, depression is very rarely
just because some one is having a bad day. Oppressive spirits run
rampant here and we can see as people walk around plagued by them. It
makes me wonder how much of the Western world is under a different sort
of spirit. Here, things are so active because the people are used to
that culture. In the West, it seems as though people are perfectly
content under their lethargy and spiritual dryness.
As much as it kills my skeptical, Western spirit to admit it –
Spiritual Warfare is alive and well…both in the bush of Africa, and in
the business world in America. Though we are battling different
spirits, evil forces are at work all over the world. Jesus even says,
“If you are not for me, you are against me.” People all over the world
are buying into the lies of the enemy and following evil spirits rather
than the Truth and Light. As Christians, it is vital for us to not
only be equipped for battle, but to actually fight. God says that he
has given us the keys to the kingdom, and he has dressed us for
battle. The battle is his, and he has put us on the front lines.
Whether we are casting out demons in Africa or battling spiritual deadness in America…the battle is alive and well.
It is time for the Church to rise up and fight.
