Anne, e3’s Director of Short-Term Trips, recently led a trip to Greece to minister to refugees through medical clinics. One night, she and her team held a small clinic for people from South Asia.
While Anne was checking patients’ eyes for reading glasses, the pastor hosting the clinic, Farid*, brought a man named Jivan* to Anne. Pastor Farid whispered in her ear, “This man has an evil spirit.”
“One of our nursing students said Jivan told her when she triaged him that he was fatigued because of lack of sleep,” Anne said. “When he tried to sleep, he said he kept hearing a little girl and a snake talking to each other. This had been going on for years.”
The nursing student and Pastor Farid thought Jivan had a mental problem or that he meant the voices were in his head, but he said “no.” So they prayed for him and brought him to the eye clinic table.
“As I talked with him, holding his hands, I asked him to say the name of Jesus,” Anne said. “He said, ‘I cannot. I made an oath with the devil.’ I asked him to hold the Bible I had in my hand. He said, ‘I can’t touch it. Every time I try I am attacked.’ He acted as if a force was keeping him from touching the Bible.”
So Anne told Jivan, “Jesus is breaking that oath! You must believe!”
“Jivan’s head fell back and his eyes rolled back in his head,” Anne said. “He appeared to have no control of them. Pastor Farid and I were holding him up. I kept yelling, ‘No! You belong to Jesus! Go away, evil one, in the name of Jesus! You have no power over him! Jesus has this man!’”
At last, Jivan was able to say the name of Jesus several times and take hold of the Bible. Pastor Farid and Anne spoke with him about faith in Jesus and reading the Bible. Pastor Farid and his church plan to stay in close contact with Jivan to follow up and disciple him.
“Spiritual warfare is real – never doubt it,” Anne said. “This was a great reminder of our need to keep our Armor of Faith on! A few minutes after that, the power in the building went out. Our team never stopped. The Lord’s work continued! Thank the Lord!”
*Names and images have been changed to ensure safety and anonymity.