Guinea Bissau Stories of
Transformation:
While Seekers Find Jesus,
Missionaries Sharpen Vision
Augusto da
Silva is a 22 year old from the Mandiago tribe of Guinea Bissau. He grew up
in the village of Grimole only a half mile from Catel. Starting in 2009 he has
suffered from two afflictions: First he has been ill much of the time; just not
feeling well and secondly nearly every night he has experienced troubling, ugly
dreams.
In these vivid dreams an evil, ghostly creature came close to him. The
face of the creature was the image of one of his friends. Sometimes this
creature wrapped his fingers around Augusto’s throat and attempted to strangle
him, other times the creature would press down on his chest to cause injury.
When he awoke from the dream he would actually have pain in his neck or chest
where he was being attacked.
The Mandiago tribe is known to be a hard working, business oriented
people. They are generally more culturally advanced than the Balanta people,
our majority tribe. The Mandiagos are heavily into occultic practices and have
many idols, sacred trees and votive offering sites around their houses. They
also readily identify themselves as Catholic.
Augusto did what anyone else in his tribe does when they are
experiencing adversity: Consult the witchdoctor. He consulted several witch
doctors because none of them were able to cure his sickness or make the evil
dreams go away.
One witchdoctor told him that his grandmother, now deceased, had made a
contract with the devil and now that same demon is coming back to continue the
contract with Augusto. Another said that when he and his siblings were born
their mother had dedicated them to a demon and now the demon was coming back
asking for a sacrifice. A Muslim witchdoctor told him that someone who doesn’t
like him and is attacking him through sorcery.
Each of the witchdoctors had a prescribed plan of action to ‘save’
Augusto from his afflictions. Each man required a fee of ten to twenty dollars
for his plan. The plans required making sacrifices to demons, sacrifices to the
ancestors and placing curses. Augusto tried some of their counsel but alas, the
tormenting dreams and sickness went on.
Augusto had heard that at churches they are able to lift the weight of
curses and demonic oppression. As a last resort, he felt the need to give this
idea a try. That is when he contacted one of our members at Catel Mennonite and
told him that he wanted to ‘convert’. Andrew went with a couple of the guys
from the church to visit Augusto and encouraged him to attend the next Sunday
service, October 13, 2012 so we could pray with him as a group.
That Sunday he got up after the message and told the congregation about
his need and said he wants to ask Jesus to heal him and deliver him from these
dreams. We gathered around him and asked God exactly for that: for protection
against demonic attacks, for his salvation, that he could come into a living
relationship with God and become a disciple of Jesus. Since that prayer service
he has been set free from the dreams and he has had complete healing
physically.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Our second story comes from the life of Seaka Nygha. Seaka has been participating in our church for less than a year. . He
also is from the Mandiago tribe and grew up in a village near Catel. He
initially attended church to ask for physical healing. Seaka is in his late
30’s and had been experiencing various long term illnesses. He had previously
participated in a Catholic church and with the New Apostolic. Neither of these
church experiences resulted in spiritual growth or transformation nor did he
realize physical healing.
When he came to Catel Mennonite he asked us to
pray for his healing and he was set free from various physical afflictions.
Since then he has become an eager disciple of Jesus and actively participates
in the program, sharing his faith with many others and offering his gifts of
wisdom and stability to the community.
In the middle of a June night this year his
mother was awakened by the incessant barking of their dog. She did some
checking in the area in front of the house and was able to see that some of
their cows, tethered for the night in the dooryard, were missing. Before they
could get the search underway, two of the cows had already wandered back but
two were missing.
Cattle thievery is common in this country and
probably goes back to a long raiding tradition between villages and tribes.
Successful thievery is considered a mark of a brave man. In stealing one puts
his life on the line because if he is caught in the act he can be shot with no
questions asked.
This incident was the first of two attempts by
thieves to steal Seaka’s cows. The thieves were successful in getting away with
two cows, loading them into a transport van and fleeing. Now they had returned.
On this second incident of thievery, Seaka
left the house to start the search for the cows taking a gun with him but he
made a note to himself that he was to use it to scare off the thieves, not to
injure or kill them. As a new Christian he knew it would not be right for him
to end the life of another. Only God has the power to do that.
Finally he came to a clearing just off the
highway where the thieves were attempting to force two cows into the van. Seaka
shot his gun into the air and causing the thieves to flee for their lives. They
fled on foot leaving behind the vehicle as prima fascia evidence. The police
located the vehicle owner in a town 50 miles away and through him they were
able to identify the thieves.
There are two systems of justice in this
country to deal with an incident like this. One is to organize friends and
neighbors to go after the thieves and met out a punishment that far outweighs
the damages done. The other system is to turn the prosecution over to the
police and the regional courts.
In this case, because the police were
involved, the second option has been followed. But because the system is so
fraught with corruption the guilty are seldom punished other than being
detained in jail a few days.
Despite the injustice done him in the loss of
his cows and the ineptness of the judicial system, Seaka has come to a place of
peace about it. He has sensed God’s care throughout this difficult time and he
is at peace that God’s justice will, in the end, prevail.
As I consider these two stories and I see the
power of the Spirit of Jesus at work in the lives of these brothers I ponder
anew the mystery of Christ’s call to follow him in life and how individuals
turn towards Jesus to begin the journey with him.
As these men responded positively to Jesus’
call they knew almost nothing about Jesus. They only have heard about his power
to heal and make things better. They have never heard of the rapture, inerrancy
of Scripture, the virgin birth nor any of the other ‘hallmark’ Christian doctrines
nor were they able to give an explanation as to how or why Jesus is the Healer.
They only know enough about this Man to reach out to One who has the power to
deliver them from evil and sickness. And I think of how close that is to the
way Jesus interacted with people while he was here in his earthly ministry.
People saw him as a prophet, a man with God’s power to make things right.
Once Jesus has their attention he invites them
to come, be part of his new community of faith, a new people of God who are
citizens of another Kingdom. Through the power of the Spirit he begins to
transform them into the new creation that God originally intended for each of
us.
Evangelism and mission viewed through this
lens is a liberating experience, even for the missionary: The missionary
community is a group of Jesus followers who are a bit further along in their
journey and are eager to include new seekers. They are open to freely walk
along side persons upon whom the light is just now breaking; not domineering,
coercing, or threatening, just being there in a loving, supportive and
encouraging way as the as the Spirit does His astonishing re-creation.
The missionary doesn’t try to play God even
though He has ‘seated us with
him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus’ and has given us all power. The
missionary is a servant to the seekers, willing to risk pain, inconvenience,
even life itself just to help others to see, experience and know Messiah Jesus.
It’s a win/win. Augusto and Seaka
have decided to follow a new Master; the missionaries have turned another page
in their faithfulness as bearers of the Good News of God’s Kingdom.
Beryl Forrester, November, 2012
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