On foot, a seven-year-old child set out on a half-a-day’s journey to attend a 7:00 pm service in another village. All he heard is that a Mzungu, "a foreigner with white skin", is coming and he wanted to see. When he arrived, he was one of the hundreds who had come.
That evening, inside the mud brick church roofed with tin, it was nearly 105°. The winged bugs were swarming around the one light hanging in the front corner near the ceiling. The missionary, Scott, was introduced. He stood and spoke about Jesus; about His closeness, His love, His power, His promises, His salvation, His deliverance. And then the altar call was given. 300 received salvation in Christ, many were healed, and 32 were freed from demonic possession. This time at the altar lasted about 4 hours.
Everyone in attendance stayed overnight at this village as those from other villages had too far a walk to go and return in the morning. Some of the women kept the boy with them and fed him. In speaking with him they learned he had severe epilepsy and was extremely poor.
Before dawn, we could hear the sound of drums that the witch doctors beat in attempts to remind the villagers to fear them and not go back to the church. They have experienced that with each villager who discovers Jesus, they lose another family that they can control and plunder efficaciously.
Regardless, we could hear singing coming from the church at 4:30 am and continuing until morning service started at 8:00. The church was completely full again.
That morning, there was a shift in the atmosphere. It went from feeling burdened to alive. Many from the night before came forward with testimonies of how Jesus has completely changed them! They could feel a freedom and a sense of hope that they had never known before. While the gifts of blankets, schoolbooks, hoes, Bibles, etc. were being distributed, someone brought the little epileptic boy up for prayer and asked if we had an extra blanket to give him. This little boy had also accepted salvation the night before though he didn’t come forward. That morning, he received prayer as well as a blanket.
After the time at the church had ended, the boy set out on the half days journey back to his village.
Weeks after our return to the U.S., we received a message from Bishop Sakala in Zambia asking if we remember the little epileptic boy who walked from the distant village. We replied, yes absolutely! We were advised that when he returned to his village, they asked him “where did you get this blanket?” He told them about the Mzungu who told him about Jesus. He said, that “he prayed to Jesus to heal my epilepsy, and then he gave me this blanket.” The evidence of this testimony caused his entire village to come to salvation in Christ! No missionary, no gifts, just the Word of God from a small child who believed!
The boy has not had another epileptic seizure.
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