We gathered together again this past Monday night for our time of worship. It is always interesting to see who will come and who won't after not meeting for about a month. Well, there were a few missing, but they all had good reasons and the majority of the group was there. We heard the story about the gold, statue of a cow that was built to worship. I wasn't too familiar with this story and found it interesting to learn more about it. The jist of the story is that some followers of God, were waiting on Moses to return from the mountain after he received the 10 commandments, and got tired of waiting. They decided to take all of the women's earrings and mold them into the form of a cow. Then they worshipped the cow instead of God. When Moses returned he fussed at them and told them they were all sinning against God. He then melted the statue. This really hit home with our friends because many of them have different statues in their home. The question was asked if it was okay to have statues if they didn't worship them. We of course said a statue isn't a bad thing, it is what you do with it that makes it bad. So we felt that many of them left with a new understanding of worshipping idols.
Below is a story of how Satan's plan was revealed, but it's kinda long....so you can read it, or not.....I just wanted to warn you!
After the story was over and we were eating, we sat around talking. This was the first time that they weren't in a hurry to leave. There were 5 women who were talking about witchcraft. They explained how real it is and how many people don't understand what they are doing when they put their faith in witchcraft. For those of you who don't understand this culture, it is hard to really grasp what I am talking about. Witchcraft isn't just someone saying they are a witch, it isn't someone on a broomstick or wearing a black hat. Not that any of you unless you are under the age of 13, actually thought that, but.... it doesn't hurt to say it. The witches here have sold their soul to the devil and work for him. They cast spells on the people and believe they have the power to ruin or save lives, whichever they choose to do. It was quite a long conversation, and I heard of MANY instances where they had seen people directly involved in witchcraft and had seen people put their faith in it. I was so happy to hear one of the women say," They don't understand that they are putting their faith in the Devil. You can't put your faith in God and Satan at the same time." They all talked about how dangerous witchcraft was.
I told them of how many people told us about the "evil eye." The evil eye is when someone can cast a spell on you and make you sick or make bad things happen to you. I told them that when we first arrived and Annie was sick from different foods that many said it was because some of the people had put the evil eye on her. I told them I didn't believe that for one minute, but many people may have seen her sick and thought their spells had worked. They then talked about Annie's accident. I can talk about this now without feeling sick. They said many people were saying how wrong it was for others to have put the evil eye on us when we were trying to help the people here. MANY felt (maybe our friends included) that Annie's accident was caused by Satan. I almost said, " No it wasn't" but then said, "I think they are right. I don't think it was because someone in the street put a spell on us, but if Satan doesn't like us here, he will do whatever he can to make us leave."
After Annie's accident, I knew Satan didn't want us to return and unfortunately for him that made me want to return even more. While in Texas we had many people praying for our friends as we knew they may have been struggling with their beliefs. I never knew just how much until this conversation with these women. One of the strongest women said, "After that happened, I said I would never go back to your house again. I said if that is what happens would good people follow Jesus, I don't want any part of it." I asked her what made her change her mind and she didn't know. I told her that there were many people praying for them and that was the reason. She just smiled. I guess when we go through tough times we "know" Satan is at work but not until much later do we find out exactly how or why he was at work. He really did want to destroy what God had started among our people. I sure am glad he didn't succeed in his efforts! Please keep praying for us. Knowing that he doesn't want us here makes it a little more difficult to go about our lives as if there is nothing keeping us from the task at hand.
I know I got winded, but just wanted you to have a better understanding of our people. Love you all!
This blog was started in 2004 when Annie was badly burnt. Over the years we have seen how God has continually provided for us and answered our many prayers.
