God led us into the church–the one built centuries ago, with fine decor carved into the stone. The outside was beautiful and intricate–but the inside brought no peace at all. The church was dark, with various candles spread throughout. Multiple statues of the saints laid throughout the sides of the church. A few people scattered the pews, but most of the foot traffic were tourists roaming and taking pictures.
A mother and her child walked from the pew, into the center isle. They fell to their knees, and started crawling to the front of the church, where a large statue of a saint rested in front of the preacher. The look of pain filled the mother’s face.
The atmosphere was dark and gloomy.
“Why are we here, Lord”, I asked. I didn’t like the atmosphere, and no part of me wanted to stay; however, I felt the need to stay.
I told Niki and Kelley that we couldn’t leave just yet. Immediately after, my eyes caught an elderly gentleman that was hunched over; he was sitting in the corner of the last pew.
Niki saw him earlier, and couldn’t stop thinking about him. So we walked up and knelt down my him. He was eating bread but joined in conversation with us. It soon became clear that he was intoxicated and possibly possessed. We asked if we could pray for him, and he started speaking incomprehensible things and doing weird things with his hands (possibly witchcraft); Niki started praying for him, followed by Kelley and I. We then excused ourselves.
We all left the church with a heaviness on our chests. This church is so lost in tradition, and it broke my heart to see the tasks that are “needed” to bring restoration to them–in reality, a false restoration.
But God sent us there for a reason. He loves those people, and he wants to bring true restoration. Through that experience, and through a vision he gave me later that night, God showed me His love for people and to what depths He will go for them–and let me tell you, it’s deep!
