Cutting the Strings

“Then He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew Him.” Mark 1:34, NKJV.

Four years ago I worked in a tribal dormitory in Maejarim, Thailand. My father-in-law, Manit, had started this ministry, and I was working with him. We had about 50 tribal children that we were training in the teaching of Christ as they stayed with us to attend school. We also traveled to surrounding tribal villages to encourage and train isolated Christian families.

Pang Chang was one of the Hmong villages that we visited once every two or three months. There were two Christian families in this village. The leader of the church in Pang Chang had five children living in our dorm. He called one day with a problem.

A three year old child was demon possessed. The child cried constantly for two months. The village witch doctor had tried everything he could think of, but the child still cried constantly. The child’s parents were at their wits end. Since all the ancestors and normal spirits had failed to help the child, the family wanted to see if Jesus could help. They asked for us to come on Sunday and pray for the child.

That Sunday we prayed with the children in the dorm over this situation in Pang Chang. Afterwards Manit and I traveled to the village. The moment we set foot into the house the child stopped crying. The child’s eyes locked on Manit, and her body became rigid. The Holy Spirit revealed to us that an evil spirit was indeed the cause of this child’s problem.

Manit turned to the parents and said, “If you want this child to be free, the entire family will need to commit to following Jesus.” The family agreed to follow Christ, if the child was made well. We began to pray. The child started crying again. We removed all the occult cures from her body. She had strings around her wrists, ankles, neck and waist. She had a copper bracelet on her ankle. She had a bamboo tube, with dead hornets inside, tied to her arm. We took all the charms outside and burned them.

After burning the charms, we returned to the house and prayed again. We entrusted this child to the care of the LORD. That night, the child slept normally for the first time in two months! The following day the child’s parents removed all the other animistic charms from their home - bird feathers, red ceremonial cloth and the like - and burned them. The child’s constant crying fits never returned and the whole family committed to following Jesus.

The witch doctor learned that the child was freed from the spirit in a most unusual way. When the demon left the child it came to him, and whacked him really hard on his backside. Since that occurrence the witch doctor has been upset about the whole situation. He was not happy about being attacked by the spirit. He was not happy to lose face over his inability to heal the child. He was not happy about the family becoming Christian and leaving the old traditions. Regardless of all that, he could not argue that Jesus had done what he had failed to do. The child was well.

While the child has experienced residual health issues from the stress of screaming and crying non-stop for two months, the family is still grateful for God’s healing. And they are still following Jesus. At this point there are ten families in the village who are Christian!

Pray that:

God will continue to grow the church at Pang Chang.

The witch doctor in Pang Chang will come to know Christ.

Prayers in the name of Jesus will set many Hmong free from spiritual attachments from their animistic practices.

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