And so it goes …
The sky darkened, the winds blew, and the rains poured from the heavens with an intensity that I have never seen. The lights of the celestial fireworks were both impressive and unnerving. Such were the sights and sounds of last night in Ghana! Needless to say the weather forced us to cancel two of the three evening projects yesterday. And so it goes …
We awoke this morning to heavy fog and very cool temperatures at our mountain top hotel which normally overlooks the beautiful valley below. After a good breakfast three ministry teams set out for a day of uncertainties. Jeff Andler, David Ney, and I all went in different directions trusting God to keep us safe, sent, and supplied for the day ahead. And so it goes …
Jeff learned the truth of the Disney song, “It’s a Small World,” as he saw and met a group of “whites” working in this area. He had noticed them the day before when he watched them digging sand from beside the road and, in Ghanian fashion, were carrying large buckets of the sand on their heads to a centralized place. Today, however Jeff found himself in close enough proximity to these young people that he was able to talk with them and learn that they were from Denmark, Canada, The Netherlands, and North Carolina! What a small world! These energetic and determined youth were in Ghana building schools for the orphanages in this area.
After completing my assigned school ministries for the day, I was able to visit the village where Dr. David was providing a free dental clinic. It was amazing to watch this wonderful dentist express and show the love of Christ to people through his sweet spirit, gentle way, and wonderful work. A fairly large crowd of people were waiting to be seen when I arrived. David had already treated the village chief and other officials who expressed deep gratitude for our coming to their place.
I sat down to be with the people and noticed the great difficulty David was having with this one particularly elderly woman. It was obvious after about 30 minutes that there was something unusual with this woman. Every so often she would blurt out some words while moving her feet from side to side. David looked to me and said, “I have never seen a mouth like this one! I’m not sure I can get to these teeth.” I asked my translator what the woman was saying and he took me to the side and said, “She is a fetish priestess who has much demonic activity in her! All we can do is pray!” So we did.
Next I saw Dr. David do something I had never before seen in Africa. He stopped and said, “I’m going to give this one a break!” With a look of frustration on his face he continued, “Have to go sit over there on the bench and I will get back to her in a bit.” All the time that David was working so hard on this woman, the rest of us were praying for God to be glorified and magnified through all of this. While the woman was sitting on the bench pastor Ebenezer Agbleze, at the urging of Rev. Lartey, went over to the woman and shared the Gospel of Jesus. In a matter of moments, this demonic woman bowed her head and received Jesus Christ into her life. It was a marvelous change that we saw in the woman as a sense of freedom, release, and calmness overcame her. This was a testimony to the marvelous grace of Jesus Christ.
Through this I learned again of the intense spiritual warfare that is raging in the world. God used this difficult situation to call His servants to prayer — realizing that only our Heavenly Father could free the souls of people. And so it goes …
Pray for Craig Barker, James McLean, and Andy Poe as they go out tonight to share the Gospel in Cinema Crusade settings. Thus far we have been able to share the Gospel with over 5,000 individuals.
