Powerful Evening, Peaceful Night

I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety. Psalm 4:8

Happy Day!

(pony-tail guy is Doug, a friend and missionary who works with ICM and will be launching our Covenant School of Worship in January.)

Six people were baptized today. The lady I wrote about in the post below is now known as "Bethania" after the town where Jesus' friends lived, where he loved to spend time, and where he raised Lazarus from the dead. Awesome day!

Helpers Who REALLY Need Help

I've blogged a lot about the caregivers and all their physical illnesses and limitations, and how being able to help them and take care of them is a blessing, but on the other hand it's financially costly and can add a lot of stress to our lives when they're ill. We've dealt with aneurysm issues, high blood pressure requiring emergency care, hemorrhoid surgery, Bell's palsy resembling a stroke, broken bones, cataracts, and other issues in addition to more routine things such as anemia, diabetes, and osteoporosis. We've also dealt with family emergencies--a caregiver's daughter and her newborn grandbaby with life-threatening infections, an elderly watchman's wife and an emergency surgery she couldn't afford, etc. You've heard about most of these challenges already, and you know that we invest in our staff's physical well-being.

What I haven't blogged much about are the spiritual, emotional, and mental health issues that some of the staff struggle with.

When I first started SCH, one of my biggest hiring criteria was that a person be surrendered to Jesus, evidenced in at least having been saved and baptized or being willing to be. Since Christians here tend to come from the economically weaker sections of society, finding Christian caregivers was no problem (because only the poorer folk applied for ayah jobs). But finding professional people with degrees in the areas I needed was very hard, and finding Christians with those degrees was nearly impossible--and so I hired some non-believers. I didn't worry much about it because I've seen how, over time, everyone our ministry hires--secretaries, drivers, etc.--turns to Jesus without we even having to preach to them. They just hang around long enough to see that He's real and to feel His love for themselves. And as I've seen these people warm to Jesus just by working with us, I've sort of gotten [too?] confident that anyone who comes to work with us will get well, just as the kids who come to live with us do. All that to say that I've inadvertently taken on board some people who were quite spiritually ill in addition to being unwell physically.

Let me take a second to say to anyone reading this who isn't a Christian and is now deeply offended and angry with me for implying that you're not spiritually well: If you sincerely believed that your god was the only way to heaven and that I would die in my sin and be forever separated from God and all that is good and glorious, and you decided you'd rather keep your beliefs to yourself and let me die, I wouldn't call you open-minded and tolerant--I'd call you incredibly selfish and even cruel. So please do try to understand where Christians are coming from and try to see our persistence as evidence that we do really care about you, even if the way we handle it is sometimes terribly obnoxious or immature.

So we've had demonic issues recently. One of our caregivers, it turns out, is a spirit host, or what some might call a witch. She never chose this 'gift'--it was given to her by a demon she worshiped in the form of an idol. She has the ability, when this demon comes upon her, to curse, without even intending to, anyone who crosses her, or anyone that spirit wants to harm. And very real, horrible things happen to that person. She's lived a terrible life of rejection and abuse, and has been a victim of black magic curses. She's running from a death threat for having legally stood up to an abuser, and she has nowhere to go.

None of us knew all of this when we hired her. When she came to us, she called herself a born-again believer, and I truly, truly believe that she is. Just before coming to us, apparently, she started attending a church and heard about Jesus, responded to the light she was shown, had a vision, got free of some demons... She came ready to be baptized, and I agreed that she could be and fully intended to have a baptism service. We just hadn't gotten around to that yet.

For several weeks, other staff members have been complaining about her, but it never sounded serious enough to me to fire someone over: "She tells lies about us," "She never got a proper divorce before she married another guy. She's a sinner," etc. She always had counter-accusations, and I didn't know what I should believe. I promised to look into the whole thing later and hear both sides, but since we were so short-staffed, I was opposed to just firing people without a good reason. And, besides, this lady really seemed to love the kids, and she really worked hard. I still think she does love the kids.

But the past few nights she's been having demonic encounters, and some children are experiencing encounters as well. There have been a few mysterious injuries on children in her care that no one can explain. One injury yesterday caused the pediatrician to wonder--he had no idea how it could have happened.

I haven't been there for a few days because of transportation issues, and when I came and saw this child's injury yesterday, I demanded to know what was going on. She spilled her entire story yesterday to me. The abuse and rejection and cruelty and hatred she's experienced throughout her life are almost unimaginable. No wonder she was easy prey for demons. I was sick and sad and angry about her life and I just wanted to cry for her.

So what do you do with someone like this? Our first responsibility is to protect our children--we can't have them in the care of someone with a spirit and history of witchcraft. But do we add ourselves to the long list of people who have shunned and rejected this woman over her lifetime? The devil may have sent her to us, but I believe God has sent us to her. The Bible says to "overcome evil with good." She needs to be delivered. She'll be much harder to minister deliverance to before she's baptized, though. And I do believe that, biblically, she can be baptized if she "confesses with her mouth that Jesus is Lord and believes in her heart that God raised Him from the dead," if she agrees that Jesus is the ONLY way, truth, and life, if she has admitted she's a sinner and that she needs Him to save her and if she wants to follow Him all of her life. I talked with her awhile and felt convinced that all this is true of her, so I said, "Let's do it."

That brought up the question of who else believes but hasn't been baptized, and who else is intrigued but hasn't yet believed. We're having a meeting in the morning with a pastor and worship team. We'll have a very clear presentation of the gospel, and will give all of our staff at Victory Home a chance to receive Jesus. Then we'll go and baptize those who haven't yet been but want to be. And then we'll anoint the whole building and rededicate it to Jesus and kick the devil out in Jesus' name.

I didn't immediately ask this lady to leave because she doesn't have a safe place to go or a non-sadistic relative to take her in--hers all want to kill her. I've long felt that we should have a center where people with serious demonic issues could go for intensive ministry and stay until they were healed. Whenever the Lord speaks to me about deliverance issues in dreams, I see a hospital. I think a deliverance center needs to be like a hospital (not like a long-term mental institution, but like a Spiritual ICU). People with super-serious problems should not have to try to make it on their own from one weekly one-hour, pastor's office appointment to the next. In the hospital model, the person could get night-and-day intensive care and ministry and then could be taught and finally released, to be seen on an outpatient basis until they're completely well. In the meantime, though, what do we do with this lady? Pray for inner healing and deliverance, of course, but where should she stay until we're sure she won't be overcome again? Right now I've said that she needs to stay in a room by herself at night, not with any children. Please pray for wisdom on where she should stay longer-term while she gets ministry.

Please pray about every other issue and person and child involved. Obviously the children need to be prayed over. We need a lot more intercessory covering.

No two ways about it--it's only the blood of Jesus that protects us from the evil one--we'd all better get under that blood if we expect the children to be protected. It's only the Holy Spirit who knows how to minister deliverance. It's His house, after all, and they're His children, and I'm sure He wants to clean house before bringing in more children. Maybe that's why we've been having delays in receiving kids. He's so wise. No sense in my wasting time letting the devil put guilt on me about it all. I'm just so thankful to Him for bringing all of it to light! He's magnificent, isn't He?

Nathan--On Arrival and 8 Months Later

Nathan's an absolutely gorgeous boy with a personality as mild and gentle as his eyes. He's gotten so strong and healthy and is always content and a joy to care for. And aren't those the most kissable lips you've ever seen in your life?
Twenty-four children with similar needs are waiting, who right now look like Nathan's "before" picture. They'll need major intervention when they arrive to save their lives, and major prayer right now to keep them stable in the meantime. Pray!

Glory, Promise, and Amy--Then and Now

Here's what just 8 months of love can do:


Be part of somebody's miracle. Please help us pray home 25 more children by Christmas!

Big Brothers are the Best

L-R: Thomas & Josh

Justin & Yemima
Lydia & Noah