“Double trouble caldron bubble.”
That’s what comes to mind when most of us hear the word “witchcraft.” We imagine some wart nosed woman with a green face and a pointy hat standing over a bubbling pot. Or maybe you, like me (until last month) imagine Sarah Jessica Parker or Bette Midler in the movie “Hocus Pocus.”
I knew witch craft is real and that witch doctors exist. But I had never personally run in to one. At least, not that I know of. Yet, ever since I signed up for the race I would stare at the country of Mozambique on my route and I would always think about witch doctors. I don’t know why. I honestly knew nothing about Mozambique other than the fact that they love to dance. (I read that in several blogs). It’s like even from the beginning God was preparing me for what was ahead (the dancing part too).
On our bus ride in, the craziest travel day EVER, I had a feeling on my heart the whole time, be prepared to minister to a witch doctor. Our teams spent one week in Gorongosa National Park. The first day on our prayer walk…again, “be prepared to meet a witch doctor.” I shared with my group what I felt The Lord saying and Deborah confirmed. God had been telling her on the whole walk, “find the witch doctor.” So we stopped to ask The Lord to guide us to one if it was His will.
Five minutes later, we noticed a yard full of beautiful flowers. I stopped to take a photo with one of my moms favorite flowers and a white girl around our age walked out of the house. She invited us in and then, without our prompting, proceeded to tell us about the witch doctor who lived in the next house on the street. Simultaneously our jaws all dropped open.
The following day, the chief of the village showed up to our church service. He invited me to his home the next day. When we got there, he was drunk. We all took a seat on the straw mat outside their thatched hut. His lack of inhibitions, however, served a greater purpose. He proceeded to tell us that his wife was a witch doctor.
He called her over.
I was waiting to see a crooked nose and hat emerge from the shadows. Maybe she would jump on her broom and fly over. (Okay this is an extreme exaggeration, but hopefully you see the point I am making.)
But no.
A normal woman, just like you and me, walked over and sat down with us.
She was tiny, weathered skin from the harsh realities of life in Mozambique.
I noticed that she avoided eye contact with us. She just kept shelling her peas. We continued talking to her husband. He told us about the needs in his community and several times asked us for money. We smiled and told him we weren’t there to bring him money, we had something better.
But I felt The Lord give me a nudge. A nudge to tell her specifically His glorious truth. Don’t allow her to sit passively. Engage her. Love her. See her. Talk to her.
The truth is, they would have been easy to not love. He was drunk and she was a witch. But lucky for them, and me, God loves us, not for what we do or don’t do, but just because we are.
In America we think about witches during the month of October, because of Halloween. But in Africa, they are a part of every day culture. And they’re bringing powerful darkness in to their communities. The people there are blind to the truth. They visit the witch doctor for healing on Saturday and then praise The Lord in church on Sunday.
This blog serves one purpose: awareness. It’s easy to gloss over the reality of witchcraft and it’s stronghold when we view it through the lens of Disney or Hollywood. It’s also easy to think of them as evil or villainous.
But they’re people. Just like you and me.
People in desperate need of a Savior. Just as I am a person, daily, desperately in need of a Savior.
Men and women in Mozambique (and almost all of Africa) visit these “herbalists” because they are desperate for healing. To some, it may seem innocent. What they don’t know is that these herbalists are actually harnessing the supernatural power of Satan to fulfill their desires. They walk away with curses on their lives, the lives of their families, maybe a pact with the devil himself. He who comes to “steal, kill and destroy.”
The spiritual world is real.
But there is no reason to fear. We know the Victor. And He has overcome. He defeated the enemy and broke every curse when He shed His blood on Calvary.
But we have to accept it. And they have to know before they can accept it.
That’s why my team could sit down and look that lady in the eye, no matter how many times she tried to avoid it, telling her the love God has for her, sharing the gift of Jesus Christ.
I wish I could tell you that she got a sparkle in her eye as we were there and gave her life to Christ after hearing the gospel. But she didn’t. She dismissed us and from what I could see, ignored all that we said.
So I continue to pray for her. And I am asking you to pray with me. Pray that God will send people her way, who have longer than one day with her. People who can show her the love of Christ, without ever saying a word. People that can model the truth for her.
Not just her. All of them. Pray for the demonic strongholds of witchcraft to be broken. That men and women will seek healing through Jesus Christ. That they will walk in His truth and accept His love, so freely given.
And the next time you watch the “Wizard of Oz” laugh at the witch, but know that her character is fictional, and elsewhere in the world, maybe even in your own city, they’re real and they need your love, your prayers, and the Jesus that you carry within.
Best,
Stacie C. Fields
“With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26
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