Far Reaching Ministries Blog

The picture that you see to the left is the newly built Maranatha Chapel Pageri in Southern Sudan. Pageri is a village about one hour's drive from our Chaplain Training Center in Nimule, Sudan and is patored by Pastor Tobias. Tobias is a chaplain and, until he planted this church, was one of the most trusted and dedicated staff chaplains. Pastor Tobias is also a close friend of mine and has translated for me during teaching, preaching and hospital visits. Tobias and I have often discussed possibly planting and pastoring a church together in the future if the Lord calls us to do that; so we keep that in prayer.

Recently Tobias honored me by asking me to fill his pulpit for him on a Sunday morning. I told him I would be blessed and was humbled that he had asked me. He responded that he was humbled that I had accepted. What we did not know was that both of us were in for a trying yet extremely joyful Sunday morning.

If you look closely at the far end of the church building, you can barely make out a side entrance; it was through this entrance, which is very near to the pulpit area, that an 80 year old woman would enter and attempt to hinder the work of the Lord in Pageri.

I feel that before I continue I should inform you that the rest of this story is an account of demon possession and the power that the Lord has over the demons of this world; even to this day. In the book of James, written by the Lord’s brother, James tells us that demons are real and they are subject to the power of Jesus. James 2: 19: You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe‐and shudder. A significant part of Jesus’ ministry on earth was displaying His authority over Satan and his demons. We see in the four Gospels that Jesus had exercised power over the demons and not only that; we also see that this power and authority would also be given to His disciples in His name. In the Gospel of Luke, we specifically see Jesus imparting this authority to His disciples: Luke 9: 1 – 2: And He called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.

Now some might say “but this power was only given to the twelve apostles” but then I would answer with Luke 9: 49 – 50: John answered, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.” But Jesus said to Him, “Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you.” The most important thing to remember is that all of this is done in the name of Jesus. As I have mentioned before in other newsletters, I have prayed for many people to be healed of diseases considered to be incurable and have seen them healed. But as a Pastor I must never forget that I do not personally possess any power to heal or cast out demons, but in the name of Jesus and Him working through my faith and obedience to His Word, Jesus is free to work His will. Does everyone I pray for experience healing of disease and illness? Not by a long shot; but that is in the hands of the Lord and is according to His will. I am but a vessel for His use.

(The picture to the left is a picture of me and Pastor Tobias preaching the Gospel together in the market place in Nimule, South Sudan.)

On the Sunday I preached in Pageri, we were in the middle of worship when this particular woman walked in the side door. I noticed her immediately and my discernment told me something was wrong with her.

She just stood there not participating in the worship and just kept scanning, back‐and‐forth, across the whole congregation of about sixty people. When worship ended, she really started to make a scene. As soon as everyone had sat down she remained standing and began making loud animal noises such as barking, growling, howling and some horrible guttural noises.

As Tobias and I watched her she began to move in an unnatural way that seemed impossible for a human being. The best way I can describe it is that her feet were right next to each other (ankle to ankle), her knees remaining unbent, and yet she was bouncing rapidly up and down as if someone was lifting her off the floor about four to six inches and then setting her back down. And while that was happening, her entire body was rotating to the right about 45 degrees and then back. At this point Pastor Tobias came to me and said “that woman is demon possessed “and I responded “ya think?”

At this point Tobias, I and his assistant went to her and all three of us laid hands on her and began to pray for the Lord to have power of this demon and cast it out. I was praying in English, Tobias in Arabic and his assistant in the tribal language of Mahdi which is spoken in Pageri. At first this 80 year old woman fought with us and resisted us. She began to get even louder in her sounds and we prayed even louder. This went on for about fifteen minutes when suddenly and unexpectedly she let out a loud scream and fell to her knees and became very still and quiet with her hands raised towards heaven.

While all of this was going on the congregation didn’t miss a beat. It seemed that half the congregation was praying with us while the other half continued to sing praise and worship songs to the Lord. Anyway, after dropping to her knees, Pastor Tobias prayed with her to accept Christ in her life. This woman then sat down, was very quiet the rest of the service, listened while I preached and sang and danced to the service‐ending worship songs. How do I know she was eighty? Because her granddaughter was attending and told us who she was, how old she was and that she had been demon possessed for many years. Her granddaughter was crying tears of joy for her grandmother and what made it even better was that she did not know her grandmother would be there that day!

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6: 12