Breaking free a struggle
Sorcery and witchcraft have ruled the hearts of the Siawi people for years.
Now that some are believers, they find themselves struggling against the ways of the village sorcerers.
"Although they recognize the … bondage that living in fear to the sorcerers places them in, I am afraid that the 18-inch journey from their hearts to their heads often times becomes a slippery slope where they find themselves falling back into their old belief system," missionary Jason Swanson wrote.
One man, Okwebe, addressed the missionaries with his concerns about his old beliefs.
Okwebe was learning Ephesians 4:17, where believers should no longer live in the futility of their thinking as the non-believers do.
But the sorcerers in Okwebe’s village told him they could make his son walk again by performing an incantation on the boy.
"Sometimes we … believe that they have great understanding," Okwebe said. "We believe that they can help, but they can’t. The sorcerers did this to us."
After the sorcerers did their work, Okwebe’s son was healed.
"Now he walks. And I have a heavy [heart] about this."
Although this discourages Okwebe, Jason sees this as a major breakthrough for him.
"We have never had anyone be so completely honest in talking about sorcery, ever," Jason wrote. "This is the first time someone has stood up in a church setting and confessed something of this magnitude. So rejoice with us that things are being brought into the open. God is at work."
With the Siawi believers desiring change, Jason is hopeful that more will confess their struggles and seek God’s wisdom and grace in these matters.
"The more the church body here … can collectively identify and confess … sin issues of this magnitude with one another, the quicker God’s Word will penetrate into these strongholds of the heart that have been untouched for so long," Jason wrote.
Please pray that the Siawi believers will continue to bring to God the areas in which they struggle.
Now that some are believers, they find themselves struggling against the ways of the village sorcerers.
"Although they recognize the … bondage that living in fear to the sorcerers places them in, I am afraid that the 18-inch journey from their hearts to their heads often times becomes a slippery slope where they find themselves falling back into their old belief system," missionary Jason Swanson wrote.
One man, Okwebe, addressed the missionaries with his concerns about his old beliefs.
Okwebe was learning Ephesians 4:17, where believers should no longer live in the futility of their thinking as the non-believers do.
But the sorcerers in Okwebe’s village told him they could make his son walk again by performing an incantation on the boy.
"Sometimes we … believe that they have great understanding," Okwebe said. "We believe that they can help, but they can’t. The sorcerers did this to us."
After the sorcerers did their work, Okwebe’s son was healed.
"Now he walks. And I have a heavy [heart] about this."
Although this discourages Okwebe, Jason sees this as a major breakthrough for him.
"We have never had anyone be so completely honest in talking about sorcery, ever," Jason wrote. "This is the first time someone has stood up in a church setting and confessed something of this magnitude. So rejoice with us that things are being brought into the open. God is at work."
With the Siawi believers desiring change, Jason is hopeful that more will confess their struggles and seek God’s wisdom and grace in these matters.
"The more the church body here … can collectively identify and confess … sin issues of this magnitude with one another, the quicker God’s Word will penetrate into these strongholds of the heart that have been untouched for so long," Jason wrote.
Please pray that the Siawi believers will continue to bring to God the areas in which they struggle.