Breaking Through

“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” John 14:27, NASB.

I met Randy* at a church in our city. We were leading a training session on how to share the Gospel with Muslims. Most of the people living in our city follow Islam, and many believers, like Randy, don’t know how to share the Gospel with them. As Randy practiced sharing with me, he also shared some of his personal story.

Even in his culture, Randy is a little on the short side. He has a gentle look to him and a deep inner joy that you can see in his eyes. You would hardly imagine that he could have done the things he talked about. He shared that as a little boy he was the “runt” everyone picked on. He’d run home for protection only to have his father yell at him and call him a coward.

Running didn’t keep people from picking on him, or help his relationship with his father, so Randy decided to learn self defense. He took martial art classes and excelled to the point of winning provincial matches for his weight bracket. People no longer picked on him, and he gained his father’s approval.

However, Randy quickly learned that the type of martial arts he was involved in had a dark, occult side to it. Part of his strength and skill came from inviting demons into his body. While the demons gave him superhuman strength, they also tore at his moral character. In the end he became no better than a street thug – picking fights and hurting people just for the fun of it. He even killed a man in one fight. Randy looked at his life and didn’t like the direction it was headed. He had no peace.

Randy’s mom was a follower of Jesus. He thought back on what she had taught him as a small boy. He knew he was in trouble, and he hoped that the God of his mother could set him free from the bondage in which he was entangled. Through the ministry of the church to which he now belongs, and a long process of repentance, Randy did find freedom from the demons and new hope for his future.

Randy’s story is not uncommon. The struggle with occultism is deeply embedded in Randy’s culture. Both Christians and Muslims are equally involved in the struggle with spiritual bondages that develop through delving into the occult.

*Name changed for security.

Pray that:

Randy will continue to walk in freedom from occult ties through his faith in Jesus.

God will use Randy to lead others out of spiritual bondages into the freedom of salvation.

Pacific Rim is a region of the International Mission Board, SBC.