Angry Witchdoctor Surrenders to Jesus; Seeks Forgiveness

Amazonian Wednesdays 🌴

May 2019

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“Please forgive me, Pastor,” the sick man entreated her humbly.

His face seemed strangely familiar. Pastor Carmen couldn’t place him. She was puzzled, but assured him enthusiastically. “Of course I forgive you!”

He was dying. His frame was skeletal. His skin hung sallow on his bones. A painfully bloated belly protruded. Cirrhosis of the liver was taking his life. The doctor had gravely pronounced that he had only days to live.

In that condition, he decided it was finally time to surrender to his Maker. His wife and son had been praying for years. The incense bowls of heaven had tipped. The resulting thunder of answered prayer resounded in spiritual places.

Javier – for that was his name – dragged his emaciated form to our Missions School campus. (This requires an hour-long journey into the jungle. He was determined.) Our bimonthly all-night prayer vigil was about to begin. He knew he had to be there.

That night, he received Jesus as Lord and Savior. Pastor Carmen led him in the salvation prayer. Then she prayed for his healing. Looking into his eyes, she spoke these earnest words. “If you live, you live for Him. If you die, you die for Him. The glorious news is, you will no longer go to hell! Eternal life is yours!”
Javier’s face glowed with overflowing joy. Carmen, too, rejoiced. This one had come into the flock before it was too late!

Here’s the fascinating part. She realized afterwards why his face had been familiar. He used to be a witchdoctor who hated her. She had been to his home. His live-in partner, Marcia, had received Jesus as Savior. She wanted to have a cell group in their house. Carmen had visited to investigate that possibility.
Javier had been so angry! He was already irate that Marcia was changing before his eyes. She was no longer the downtrodden woman that had been so easy to dominate. He had lost control of his “slave.”
Wrath boiled in his eyes. Who were these enemies that had brainwashed his woman and his son? He shouted at the two of them that day, slamming the door in their faces.

No wonder he had needed to ask for forgiveness. He was no doubt also remembering the many times he tried to send curses against our church. (None of them had worked.) The Holy Spirit was deeply convicting him of all his sins. This new birth would be genuine and all-encompassing.

So Javier gave himself, fully, to Jesus. The supernatural joy that filled him in those moments was a joy that would remain. After the prayer vigil, he was baptized. He also finally married Marcia. This was several months ago – and he is still alive today, believing for total healing.

I will mention one more thing about this story. Javier’s son Pepe got saved in one of our cell group meetings quite a number of years ago. Pepe eventually won his mother, Marcia, to Jesus. The two of them had been enduring Javier’s poisonous behavior for a long, long time… praying and believing for his salvation. They never gave up, even when it looked utterly impossible.

Are you praying for someone today who seems hopelessly hardened, angry, and cold? The Holy Spirit wants to encourage your heart right now. Don’t give up. Keep on praying fervently. Nothing, absolutely nothing is impossible for our God!