Due to changing schedules, I’ve been given a different teacher for part of my language classes. As much as I enjoy learning from Trung, I appreciate the opportunity to get acquainted with someone else, too.

Perhaps it’s because Diep is younger and less experienced than Trung, but she comes across more excited and nervous. We chatted initially about our plans for the weekend, and I shared that our group was going to have a small celebration of the resurrection of Jesus, as many other Christians do for Easter. This led us into a discussion of what happens after death.

“In Buddhism, everyone goes to hell because no one is perfect,” said Diep. “All your sins and good deeds are counted from the day you are born. And that will determine how much you suffer after you die, like paying back a debt. If you have done good deeds, then you suffer less in that level of hell. After you have paid your debt, then you will be reborn—maybe as an animal, or maybe as a person.”

“Wow, so where do all the souls come from?” I asked. “There are more than 7 billion people, and then there are all the creatures. Do even flies have souls?”

“Yes, every creature,” she answered eagerly. “But not all people believe in Buddhism.”

“Oh, so what happens to those who don’t believe in Buddhism?”

Diep paused. “I don’t know what happens, but for those who don’t believe, Buddhism doesn’t have to manage what happens to their souls.” Then, perhaps dissatisfied with her answer, she began to tell a story about the director of the language center, Mrs. Na. In my interactions with Mrs. Na, I have found her to be a wonderfully earnest and generous person. She is a very devout Buddhist who subscribes to veganism and has a heart for the less fortunate. Diep told me that Mrs. Na is the type who will stop at cemeteries on her way to work and pray over unmarked graves. She prays that some family member will find their relative among the unnamed and that the soul will be able to move into the next life.

On one particular day after Mrs. Na stopped at a cemetery, a spirit must have followed her. That evening, a friend of hers with a high level of knowledge of the Buddhist religion and the ability to talk to spirits, stopped by Mrs. Na’s home. While she and Mrs. Na were talking, the spirit entered Mrs. Na and possessed her, and she began to speak with a voice not her own.
The friend asked the spirit its name, where it lived, and why it had followed Mrs. Na. The spirit responded that it had watched Mrs. Na stop frequently and pray. It said it was very hungry because there was no one to offer it food and incense. The friend told the spirit to leave Mrs. Na and promised the next day they would do a ceremony for the hungry spirits, offer food and incense, and pray that they would be able to move on. The spirit agreed and left Mrs. Na.

The next day, Mrs. Na and her friend did the ceremony. Their platter full of food offerings caught fire and burned up, but the floor beneath the platter was untouched by any heat. That night, Mrs. Na had a dream in which she saw spirits at the cemetery eating from her platter of offerings.

Perhaps Diep shared this story thinking it would help me believe in spirits. Although I do not believe as Diep does that the spirits are the souls of people who have died, I don’t doubt one bit that actual evil angels performed the wonders she recounted, from the possession to the burning offerings and, later, in the dream. The Bible foretold that the devil and his angels would have the ability to perform signs, even calling down fire from heaven and appearing as angels of light.

What a reminder of how demons can observe our tendencies and access our lives! Lately I have been even more convicted that we need to pray for the Holy Spirit to empower us to “be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might” as we truly “do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:10, 12). The devil and evil spirits are cunning and will do all they can to hinder or paralyze the work of God to keep people in ignorance and spiritual stupor.

Please pray for our team. In our human abilities we cannot do anything worthwhile. We aren’t smart enough or powerful enough. But Jesus is. As a team, we simply desire that the power of the Holy Spirit will infuse all that we do and that we will shine the pure and holy light of the knowledge of Jesus in how we live and love.

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