Modern-day Acts of the Apostles in Burundi...
Dear Team 8th October 2008
Are you ready for some weird, wonderful and whacky stories of God at work in Burundi? Some stretch credibility, particularly for a Western mind, although an African wouldn’t blink twice about what I’ll share with you. It’s quite long, but it’ll blow your mind, and is worth the read…
My last letter was asking you to pray for Onesphore and his band of fearless disciples as they piled upcountry into unreached areas to share the love of Jesus in word and deed. Well, as usual, I am beautifully blown away by what happened. If you take a fresh look at the Acts of the Apostles in the Bible, you could almost substitute ‘Antioch’ or ‘Ephesus’ with ‘Burundi’ and it would read in a similar vein. Here’s a sample of what happened:
In Muyinga, a prostitute called Victoria was kidnapped by cannibal witchdoctors who took a bite out of her thigh but found she tasted bitter (it sounds almost comical except that it is true – one of the female members of the team later on asked to see it to verify that she wasn’t lying, and the mouth-shaped wound needed serious medical treatment). So the witchdoctors didn’t eat her. Instead they cursed her and she became dumb. For three weeks she hadn’t said a word when the evangelists arrived. She’d gone to the local administrator to press charges, and he challenged the team: “If you want us to listen to you about your Jesus, then do something for this girl.” They promptly gathered around her, prayed in Jesus’ name, and Victoria began speaking again! The whole community was blown away by this obvious demonstration of God’s power. The administrator promptly offered them land to build a church, and two months on there is a church of a hundred members meeting there. Victoria is now a reformed ex-prostitute.
At Mukabira, a powerful witchdoctor was converted. On the spot he became an evangelist(!), and invited the team to join him in addressing six other witchdoctors. Those six duly gave their lives to Christ. They brought out all their charms, idols and spells, and had a public burning session, at which point the local craftsmen who had made the idols were in uproar (remember what happened in Ephesus?). They complained: “How dare these people come from outside and introduce strange ideas which take away our business?” They complained to the local authorities. Three of the team were arrested and beaten, and held overnight. In the morning, when it was established that they’d done nothing wrong, they were released. As they were sat outside the police station, still talking to several policemen, a tornado flared up. It is generally believed here that a tornado is actually an angry python underground sent by witchdoctors. The policemen fled as the tornado approached, but the three believers stood their ground, at which point the tornado split in two, went around them, and demolished two houses on either side of them. The policemen then returned totally awestruck, asking: “Who are you people? What is your secret?” They replied: “The One who is in us is greater than the one who is in the world.” More people were converted.
Another example of Acts-style persecution involved a group being invited into a house under pretense to share Christ. However, once inside, they were beaten with sticks and a hoe. One young lad was seriously wounded in his head and spent three days in hospital. Although they were the ones attacked, the evangelists were the ones arrested. Onesphore drove there immediately, mediated, the aggressors begged forgiveness, and yet more people were touched by the power of God.
Vincent was steeped in witchcraft. He had made a pact with Satan, and for twenty years hadn’t been able to wear clothing, as it felt like pins were pricking him when it contacted his skin. He hadn’t cut his hair in that time either, and looked completely deranged. The whole area around Bubanza submitted to his spiritual leadership and lived in fear of him. He refused to listen to the team’s first attempt to tell him about Jesus, but they persisted and returned. He was delivered, and when he burned all his charms, the community was so astonished that on the spot twenty other people gave their lives to Christ.
There are many more stories, but those are a selection. You get the idea. Our God is a big big God! May He forgive us for keeping Him caged and domesticated.
Various radio stations broadcast multiple testimonies of the events, and the impact has been to stir and challenge the Church to step up to the plate. Numbers aren’t everything, but here is the top-line summary of what happened in just two weeks:
325 young people went out to share Christ in 26 of the least reached areas of Burundi.
46,917 people were spoken to one-on-one.
19,533 people were prayed with to receive Christ.
5,250 people were backslidden and recommitted themselves.
10 new churches were planted. Usually the idea was to work alongside a local church, but in some cases none existed.
74 witchdoctors and 101 Muslims were converted.
15 marriages on the point of divorce were reconciled.
67 recorded healing miracles took place, including 5 paralytics walking, 3 blind people seeing, 8 demon-possessed people exorcised, and more.
Last time I wrote, I mentioned what was said of Dorothy Sayers: “She loved the truth enough to live it.” I found that incredibly stirring and it forced me to ask myself: “Do I love the truth enough to live it?” Taking things one stage further, I’ve been thinking about love, and its opposite. You might think that the opposite of love is hate, but as followers of Jesus, I think the opposite of love is apathy. There is so much apathy in the Body of Christ! These guys above don’t display a shred of it. They love the truth enough to live it. And they challenge me to do the same.
The context for most of us is so very different. We can’t relate necessarily to the above stories. I hope at the very least they help sharpen our prayers and make us understand that even where we are there is so much more going on than meets the eye. The battle is real. The enemy is real. The stakes are high. Prayer is crucial. Yes, we are in a different context, but it’s the same Jesus we believe in, the same gospel, the same urgent message, the same imperative to go and love and serve and change the world in Jesus’ name. Enough apathy! Let’s get out there, fully alive, and be who He is calling us to be!
Amen!
In Him,
Simon Guillebaud
Great Lakes Outreach
www.greatlakesoutreach.org |
