TANZANIA – Pastors Johnson and Amos have returned from another successful trip to the Datoga tribal people. They were thrilled to be greeted warmly by the four former prophets of Aseeta who had renounced their traditional religion and given their lives to Jesus Christ. Johnson and Amos brought the good news to five different villages, accompanied by these influential newborn Christians. Going door-to-door, the group shared powerful testimonies of transformed lives followed by an invitation for each household to know this living God. The results were astounding as God’s family increased day-by-day.
Great success is predictably followed by great opposition, and once again it came in the form of the prophets of Aseeta found in each village. There are certain houses that are set apart by Aseeta as “sacred places” in which no unbeliever may enter without severe consequences. Johnson and Amos were forewarned of these houses, yet they fearlessly entered to invite the inhabitants to know the living God. Johnson reports that the listeners would mock them with laughter as the message of salvation was delivered. They laughed at these ignorant evangelists who could hardly know what was awaiting them. No unbeliever leaves these sacred dwellings without suffering blindness, deafness and even muteness. Yet, each time following prayer Johnson, Amos and the converted prophets would leave without suffering any harm. Seeing that the evangelists were protected from their curses, the mockers ran after them in wonder and chose to listen a second time to their message. They sought the same God who had shown greater power than Aseeta and gave their hearts to the Lord Jesus.
Then something even more astonishing occurred as the parents asked, “Will you pray for our children?” This request seemed easy enough to fulfill, but they soon learned that the children were taken at birth by the prophets of Aseeta to be raised as disciples of this other faith. They were taught to curse and to bless, to foretell the future and to concoct traditional medicines. They were forbidden to leave the discipleship house that Johnson refers to as a “hidden house.” Through careful investigation, Johnson and Amos found the house with nine children inside. Some had matured into their teen years without their families ever seeing them. In short, following a great power encounter, six of the nine youth saw the evidence of a Creator God who loved them and gave his Son for them. They renounced their allegiances to Aseeta, burned their fetishes, were delivered from horrible possessive demons, and gave their lives to Jesus Christ. Young people and families are now gladly facing the challenge of building a life together apart from the evil influence of Aseeta.
The opposition grows as death threats and curses have been raised against Johnson and Amos, but our God remains faithful in His promise, “No weapon raised against you shall prosper” (Is. 54:17).
