A Spiritual Battle

While in Chihota, I had my first encounter with a group called "The Apostles." Essentially, they are a cult. Their religion is an odd mixture of Zionist Christianity and traditional African animism. They wear white robes everywhere, and people from the villages go to them to receive healing. From what I'm told, they prescribe traditional healings which often include sacrifices to ancestors, and nearly always requires some form of payment to the healer. From my limited understanding, some of their leaders are merely scam artists, while others truly hold some forms of demonic power.

One day, I was talking to some men in the village whose families go to The Apostles for teaching and healing. I asked one of the men what exactly The Apostles teach. His response was that he wasn't exactly sure, he just knew that they didn't teach or believe in the Bible. One of those same men I talked to, who wasn't a believer at the time but came to know the Lord later that week, asked me to pray for his family. He said that they had been deeply caught up in witchcraft, and he asked me to call on Jesus to break through the power that Satan had over his family.

Hands down the creepiest experience that I have had since arriving in Africa was every evening in Chihota, when from dusk to dawn, The Apostles came together just a few hundred yards from our hut and spent the night chanting. I would wake up a dozen or so times a night, usually from the discomfort of sleeping on a concrete floor, and each time I would hear them singing and chanting to who knows what gods. Even more disturbing was that I began having terrible nightmares during that week in Chihota, which is very uncommon for me.

I'm not telling you all this to scare you. Let's not forget that "greater is He that is in us than He that is in the world" (1 John 4:4). But, I am sharing this with you all so that we don't live in ignorance. This confrontation with the demonic realm was a clear reminder for me of Paul's words that "our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" (Ephesians 6:12). If Satan can get us to forget that there's a battle raging, then he's taken us out of the battle. I know that these demonic manifestations seem to appear less often in America than in other parts of the world, but one look at the state of our country tells me that we are in a spiritual battle. Our country has seldom known peace since its inception. Abortion kills a million babies a year in the U.S. alone. Divorce rates are through the roof. Pornography holds millions of people captive. Millions more are consumed by materialism and greed. Let us not be fooled...we are in a SPIRITUAL battle! As Paul urged the believers in his time, let's put on the armor of God and choose to fight for the kingdom of God!

This picture of The Apostles was taken by another one of our teams while on their practical ministry in Zim. I've been told that this cult is the fastest growing religion in Southern Africa. Please join me in praying that the people in Africa would not be deceived by this false religion, but that they would come to know Jesus: the Way, the Truth, and the Life!