Day 7: The next
day we got on another bus to our next destination which was near a city called
Hetauda. The people here seemed very excited about seeing us and prepared an
amazing room for us to sleep in. We had 4 days to wait before the next
kickstart started so we had some time to get to know the locals. There were 2
young ladies called ‘Cushna’ and ‘Rose’ who had been put in charge of looking
after us and they spoke really good English, so it was good for us to have
people to disciple who understood us. We went for a walk around the village
with them and ended up going to a house where a lady was very sick. She was
nearly 3 months pregnant and hadn’t been able to keep any food down since she
got pregnant. She was very weak and could barely leave her bed. We prayed for
her and came against any evil spirits that were affecting her. After praying
for her for around 5 minutes we encouraged her to eat something. She was able
to eat a bowl full of noodles without vomiting which she couldn’t do
beforehand. After she ate, she confessed that she had seen a spirit in her room
in the past. She is a believer, so we told her how that spirit has no right to
be there and that she needs to tell it to go in Jesus’ name if it ever came
back.
By the time we finished praying for her, other people had
joined us in the house and two older ladies wanted prayer for various
sicknesses. We asked Cushna and Rose if they would pray for healing and they
were keen. We told them clearly that they didn’t need to pray long. We are
commanding, not asking. They did well and both of the ladies were healed.
Unfortunately at every other place we went to they were in the habit of praying
looooong prayers. Even after we tell them how to pray and show them how to
pray, they still prayed for a long time. It was incredibly frustrating.
Day 8: We did a
bit of shopping in town and then went to a village where we spoke to some
believers in a house. We gave them a brief introduction to our teaching and
offered to pray for people there. Two people had sore joints and so we got Cushna
and Rose to pray for them and they were healed. After that we asked if anyone
else needed prayer. One man said he felt angry when we were speaking. As soon
as we started to pray for him he started to shake uncontrollably under the
influence of a demon. We told the demon to go and it did within a few minutes. Another
man had a stutter. When we spoke freedom over him he also started to shake a
lot. We commanded the demon to go but this one took a bit longer to go. After
around 10-15 minutes the man started to calm down a bit and felt peaceful.
Later that night we went to a house fellowship in the dark.
We were walking with a group of around 12 people and as we were walking past
one house, a man from inside asked if we could help with his daughter because
she has an evil spirit. I thought we were going to talk to some other believers
but when we got there I realised the family were all non-believers. They were
just so desperate to see their daughter set free so they asked the first people
they saw walking past.
The first thing she did when we got there was roll around on
the ground and then put her own hand to her throat to try to choke herself. I
could understand now how the family knew it was an evil spirit even without
knowing anything about Jesus or God. Mike asked the family if they wanted Jesus
to help their daughter and they said yes. So the four of us (Mike, Harry, Marduk
the interpreter and myself) got to work commanding the demon to go in the name
of Jesus. For about 1 minute the girl writhed around on the floor then stopped.
I stopped praying when I saw this but Mike, Harry and Marduk kept going for
another few minutes. I guess after the last demon we cast out we were expecting
a long battle. When you see someone try to choke themselves you don’t expect an
easy fight! Then the girl looked up with a big smile on her face and you could
see that she was free.
We were getting late to the house fellowship so Mike, Harry
and Marduk stayed with the girl and her family to share the gospel and I went
to the house fellowship so they could start. They sung a few songs and then
gave us time to speak so Harry did after finishing up at the other house.
Day 9: We went to
another village and again gave an introduction of our teaching. Again we went
to a house fellowship that night. This time we were in a different home. They
meet up every night (apart from weekends) in a different home each night. This
time Harry stayed behind so I shared a brief message on how house fellowship is
just as much church as going to a weekend service. The lady from last night who
was set free from a demon came along with her husband so Mike shared the gospel
with them again. At the end we prayed for them to receive the Holy Spirit but
nothing happened at the time. I think the house fellowships only meet up for a
short time and we had taken so long to share the gospel that everyone was
restless about getting home.
Day 10: On our
final day before the kickstart was due to begin we did some shopping again.
Then we went to another house fellowship in the evening which was uneventful.
Day 11: First day
of kickstart. Mike’s wife was sick, I found out that my car windscreen was
cracked and we don’t have insurance, so it would cost a lot to fix and Harry
was feeling discouraged. We prayed together before we started and felt a lot
better. Harry took ‘Christian or disciple’ again, I took ‘Luke 10’ and Mike
took ‘the gospel.’ It was a long day of teaching but there was not much
interaction with the people there. We visited the pregnant lady who we prayed
for earlier. She was looking much healthier. She was still throwing up after
food but not as bad as before. I also had a good chat with one of the pastors
there who doesn’t get paid for being a pastor, he encourages all believers to
pray and loves house fellowships.
Day 12: Second
day of kickstart. Mike finished speaking on the gospel and I talked on healing
the sick. When I asked if anyone needed prayer, the first lady that came
forward complained of having seizures. Everyone was watching this so I
explained that the seizures were caused by an evil spirit. I told them the evil
spirit has no right to be there and that Jesus has all authority. I said that
they could help too by praying in their language. Then I told the lady to relax
and started commanding the demon to leave. Normally in these situations I seem
completely confident on the outside but inside I am thinking about all sorts of
excuses. This time was no different and I was thinking, ‘Mike’s not here! I
can’t do this by myself!’ Mike had gone off somewhere while I was teaching. I
quickly realised that was a fleshly excuse, so I took that thought captive and continued
destroying the works of the evil one in this lady. Harry was there, so he
helped. It only took a few seconds before the lady fell back and started
shaking on the ground just like the lady from the night before. Again, it only
took a minute or so for the demon to leave and the lady to stop shaking. I
asked her if she felt alright and she said she felt fine. I normally encourage
the person to have some food or water after a deliverance. This is just because
it is something normal they can do after a very unusual experience so it helps
to calm them down. I’m not sure if I did it in this case. Either way, she
didn’t seem perturbed by what had happened and had a big smile on her face.
After that we carried on with getting all the believers to
pray for each other for healing while we wandered around getting involved where
we were needed. It wasn’t long before another lady started showing signs of
having a demon. She started shaking a bit and then hitting the ground with her
hands and saying something in Nepali. I asked the interpreter what she was
saying. It was, “I’m not coming out!” I started helping them with commanding
the demon to go. After a few minutes she started rolling round on the floor,
hitting the ground with her hands or flinging her arms wildly from side to
side. The lady was responsive the whole time and the demon didn’t seem to be
going anywhere no matter what we did. I commanded it to go for about 15 minutes
but there was no change. Everyone there was focused on what was happening so I
knew it had to stop. I have heard of some people talking with demons but I
wasn’t sure about that. The only time Jesus ever asked a demon a question was
when he asked the demon’s name. I thought I’d try that. I asked the demon
(through the interpreter what it’s name was). The lady responded and I found
out it’s name was Anita. So I said, “Spirit of Anita, come out!” Straight away
she coughed, and I felt quite proud of myself that something happened. Then it
clicked that maybe Anita was the ladies name because she was still hitting the
ground after that…
I felt a bit foolish after that but there was no time for
self-pity because the lady (Anita…) needed to be set free. I tried a different
approach. Instead of asking the demon, I thought I’d just ask God. It had
always helped in the past so I asked God, “What is happening here?” Immediately
a thought came into my head, ‘witchcraft.’ I asked Anita if she had been
involved in witchcraft because I thought she might need to repent of something
but she said no. Then she said her Father is. Now we were getting somewhere. I
still didn’t know what to do about this demon so I spoke with God again, “ok, I
know it’s witchcraft now. How do I cast it out?” Then again a thought came to
me, ‘worship.’ At the time there were about 15 people all around us praying in
Nepali, so I asked the pastor there to get them to sing a worship song. They
sung a beautiful song and the demon left before they were finished. Then we had
a break for some lunch.
After lunch we decided to finish the teaching that day so we
could spend the whole day out the next day. I did a quick debrief on what had
happened with the demons and how all believers are commanded to cast them out.
I also took some questions. One of them said that we need to make sure we have
prayed a lot before preparing to cast out demons. I told them that praying
continually is good, but we don’t need to be ‘prayed up’ before we can cast out
demons. We can do it any time.
That night we went to another house fellowship and had a
beautiful time worshipping with them.
Day 13: On the
streets. We split into 4 groups and went into different areas. Each group had
at least 10 people. In New Zealand if you approach someone with 10 people they
may be overwhelmed but in Nepal it is normal for a big group of people to
gather whenever something interesting is happening. Most people have nothing to
do during the day so are happy to have people to talk to.
The area I went to is one that has been reached a lot in the
past by Christians. The people we talked to were either church-going believers
or completely against Christianity and not willing for us to pray for them. A
lot of them seemed to be Hindu priests. One of the believers we talked to had a
sore back so I got one of the group to pray for her and she was healed. The
lady had a son who was deaf and mute so we spent about 10 minutes praying for
him to speak properly. By the end his voice box was clearing slightly but he
still couldn’t talk. I wanted to keep praying for him but my group wanted to
carry on.
Overall it was pretty unexciting because we either got an
immediate ‘no,’ or they were believers who were healthy. I did manage to have a
good chat with some of the group and disciple them as we were walking.
At the end of the seminar they thanked us and gave us a
‘token of love’. That is basically a plaque with the words ‘Token of love’ on
it including the name of the church.
That night we had dinner with some of the older generation
who shared some of the persecution they had suffered as the first believers
from Nepal. I can’t remember the full details but I know that the man we spoke
to was imprisoned for his faith.
Day 14: Church
service. Mike and I attended one church service where we thought we would be
speaking while Harry and Marduk went to another service. What followed was 2 ½
hours of the most joy sapping religion that you could ever imagine. I couldn’t
understand a word of what was happening so I just observed peoples body
language. It was clear that no one wanted to be there. It was a very typical
service: singing followed by an offering, a boring sermon followed by another
offering, then some more music to finish. The only joy in the whole service was
a 5-minute cultural dance put on by some of the local girls. We didn’t end up
speaking and the pastor informed us that his message was on Matthew 24:4:
“Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you.”
He clearly wasn’t happy with what we had talked about. We
had a few run-ins with him during the kickstart and realised he was full on
into tradition and I believe he was a wolf in sheeps clothing stifling this
particular church. Ironically, in his message, the wolf in disguise was telling
the sheep to be wary of what we were teaching them. The fruit of his teaching
was evident after dinner when one lady asked us to pray for her because she was
in pain. We asked her where she was sore and she told us that her whole body
was sore because she had spent the whole day sifting sand and gravel to make
cement to build a wall to separate the church from the house next door. I
couldn’t believe that she was allowed/convinced by the leaders that this was a
good use of her God-given talents and time.
