“The evil spirit would enter one child and then jump to another when the monk would splash holy water on them. This went on for a long time,” our neighbor lady, Seenat, told us after a group Bible study on Sabbath morning.

One of the big highlights of our time in Southeast Asia has been studying the Bible with our Muslim and Buddhist friends. Most of these people have been touched in some way by our medical missionary work. It has been phenomenal to see how quickly people’s hearts unfold when we take a moment to care for them, treat their health problems and pray with them. So far, our Sabbath morning study groups have been fairly small, usually with seven to ten visitors. It has been a blessing to hear the people share their thoughts about what the Bible says as it relates to them.

One man in particular is familiar with many of the stories we read, but with his Muslim background he remembers them with a different slant. When we talked about Jonah, he remembered him being in the whale’s belly for 40 days instead of three. When we talked about the story of Noah and the flood, he added that no one believed Noah, not even his own family, but somehow they still entered the ark. In the story of Pharaoh pursuing the children of Israel into the Red Sea, he was taught that Pharaoh’s body lies at the bottom of the sea today, completely intact, flesh and all, as a testimony to anyone who might find it. We just keep teaching straight from the Bible and let it speak for itself. One day all of the little erroneous details will be made clear. In our studies together, we have looked at the Bible’s description of creation, sin’s entrance into the world, and various stories that Jesus lived out when He walked among us.

A few Sabbaths ago I felt impressed to share the story of when Jesus met the demoniacs at Gadara. With Bibles open in two different languages, we read the story together. We started by reading the description of the demoniacs. These men couldn’t be bound or tamed. They lived among the tombs and cut themselves and menaced anyone who came near.

I stopped reading and asked the group around me if they had ever met anyone like these men. “I have,” our neighbor, Seenat, shared. “In my village, evil spirits enter some of our people. Sometimes adults, sometimes children. One lady gets wide eyes and runs into the forest. She thrashes around until the evil spirit leaves. In fact, just yesterday at the local school, an evil spirit was messing with the children. It would enter one child and then jump to another when a monk splashed holy water on them. This went on for a long time,” Seenat said with sober intensity.

As she went on to describe the experience in detail, one young Muslim girl in our group began to look agitated. She started to twitch and bat at the hair of the person sitting next to her. Her eyes darted around, and several times she closed them tightly. I later learned that this girl had previously been demon-possessed. I decided to finish the Bible study before we prayed for her. I wanted the part of the story that focused on Jesus’ power over evil spirits to be foremost in the people’s minds. After reading about how Jesus cast out the demons and told the restored men to share what God had done for them in their village, we stopped. I asked who had more power, the evil spirits or Jesus. “Jesus,” they said. The group also commented on the fact that the pig owners in the story cared more for their animals than for the restored men.

We had a special prayer for two people in the group, one of them the young girl who had experienced demonic possession. She has not had another episode since. Praise God for revealing His Son’s power to this young lady and to the group! Please continue to pray that people’s eyes and hearts will open to the Lover of their souls.

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