Off we went to go pray over Phyllis’ house. Little did we know what was really going to happen…
…as we approached her house, we found the side of the dirt road clustered with children. One of the little boys from our pre-school class was sitting there amongst them, with a big goose-egg sized bump on the side of his head. He was hurt. The older boys were laughing at him. The older boys were at least middle school age and were picking on a 6 year old!(This explains why this 6 year old is such a bully at pre-school and why he’s always fighting; he’s been made tough from fending off the big boy bullies.)
This little boy with the bump on his head being teased is the grandson of Phyllis. Immediately, upon seeing him distressed and injured, we decided to comfort him and pray over him.
As we laid hands on him the older boys mocked us; they jeered and mimicked what we were doing by also “laying hands� while really shoving the little boy’s head and jokingly crying out to Jesus in shrill laughter and insults to the boy.
We refused to cease praying despite the distraction. We finished praying and then joined the little ones by sitting on the ground with them, and in a way, putting ourselves between them and the big bullies.
“Why do you go to church?�
Their unanimous reply was to hear the word of God. This pretty much got the ball rolling for us to probe further and find out where their hearts really were at this point. Over the next hour, we’d have a captive audience of bullies and little boys with a dialogue that was very much reminiscent of the Good Person test. When the boys told us that they were Christians because they go to church and follow the ten commandments, we made it a point to address that in fact they weren’t obedient to the ten commandments at all. We were determined to point them towards the Savior.
We shared the Gospel with them at length. We preached the full truth of the crucified Christ, His resurrection and the reality of hell.
“There is no forgiveness of sins without asking Jesus. You need Jesus.� The truth was laid out for them plain and clear.
Upon this revelation and admission of sin on their behalf, you could tell there was some serious thinking going on as they wondered if they really were being forgiven by a god who they believe will forgive anything if you just ask him. Until we initiated more questions, these boys had no real idea who Jesus was.
We asked them which of the two God approved of more: going to church or following Jesus. “Going to church, of course!� was their reply. They laughed, as if we didn’t know any better.
So when Imelda pressed in and rephrased the question:
They remained pensive. Teresa let them know how much God loves them, that Jesus wants a relationship with each and every one of them. She even told them that God knows the number of hairs on their head. One of the boys reached up and felt his hair and looked down at his toes in disbelief.
They acknowledged that God knew all things, but were ashamed to believe that He even knows their thoughts. Their hearts were finally revealed when the most talkative of the bunch calmly said, “But I want to enjoy my life and do what I want to do. I will wait to believe in Jesus when He comes back.�
We urged them that all of our days are numbered. Only God knows when we will die. “But I feel well,� said the young boy, “I know I am not going to die.� In these mountains where storms roll through and lightening often strikes down on to people and animals, feeling well or being old or being sick plays no role in its fatality. It pained us so much to hear him speak like this when we are looking at one of the last generations of Swaziland. Truth couldn’t shake a young boy into understanding that his whole country is perishing. (Proof that the wages of sin are death.)
The average life expectancy is now down to 23 years old! (And Imelda at age 31 was laughed at and called an old grandma by these boys.)
Teresa urged them once more that salvation is now. Jesus is here now. He loves them …and then…
…At this very moment Teresa was ECSTATIC…(to be continued)
