22. Basutoland, Central Africa
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO BASUTOLAND, CENTRAL AFRICA
Before sailing for Africa, I had some classes with a missionary who had worked in Central Africa. He told me that anyone going to Africa should have a knowledge of demon power. He had seen it in operation many times. He taught me about demon possession, obsession, and demon influence.
I was asked to visit a cousin of a friend, and I found a very peculiar person. She told me that she had never heard from her relatives. Then in the course of the conversation she began to say, “Why don’t they leave me alone?” I wanted to know who was to leave her alone. She said her relatives.
I said, “You just told me that you never hear from your relatives.” She then answered that they tormented her day and night. This to me sounded like demons. I prayed in the name of Jesus and commanded them to leave her. When I had finished praying she wanted to know what I had done to her. She said that her head had been on fire for a number of years, and when I prayed the fire went out. It took some time to free her of the demons, but at last she was free after much prayer. She is saved now and is serving the Lord. When I arrived in Basutoland, I was prepared for what I found. The people are ancestor worshipers and believe in demons. They see them as little green men. I could sense the power all around me. I was at a station with a converted witch doctor as a minister of the native church.
One day this minister’s daughter became very ill at a station where another converted witch doctor was the minister. I took the mother and father to see the daughter who was very ill. After being there for awhile she began to rave. The chief’s men came down to see her, as is the custom of the Basutos. They said she was demon possessed, and could not be helped. That night we had prayer for her and were convinced that it was demon power. I called the people together for prayer in her room. As the people were singing songs about the blood, I knelt by her mat on the floor and took her hands in mine. I then made her look at me. The demon wanted to turn her eyes away, but I refused to let him do it. I then demanded that the demon come out of her. He told me point-blank he would not go. She had no strength of her own; she was very sick, and had been for a long time, but when I was struggling with her she was very strong. Each time I got the demon to look at me, and he refused to go, I could feel her getting weaker. At last the demon said he would go. He left her, and until the day of her death she was in her right mind. The two ministers left the room after awhile. They were afraid of the demon power there.
I had a friend who was demon possessed. When one of these spells would come on he would always want to kill himself. When he admitted that God was entitled to ask for all of his life, he was delivered. He has been free ever since, and has been a mighty power in the work of the Lord.
I know that many more ministers, missionaries and Christian workers would have success in their work if they would recognize the fact of the demon power that is at work against us, and that there is all power in the name of Jesus to cast them out.
Marion Carter Africa ~ end of chapter 22 ~ http://www.baptistbiblebelievers.com/
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