Deliverance – by Brett Klingenberg

This past Monday as I slept soundly in my bed above the church sanctuary, Pastor Ceferino was casting out demons below.

Here is the scoop. Pastor Ceferino received a knock on his door around midnight Monday morning. It was urgent. There was a man in town who was possessed by an evil spirit and was going crazy; he had a machete and was threatening to kill his family.

Ceferino said he would meet the man at the church. On the way to the church he passed by the hospital where the friends of the crazy man had brought him to try to calm him with some medication. When the demon inside the man saw Ceferino, it recognized the power of God in him, and caused the man to begin barking like a dog and trying to get away from him. Ceferino told the group to bring the man to the Church.
Once at the church, Ceferino began to preach; first to the friends and family that had accompanied the possessed man, especially the four men who were trying to restrain the one. He told them that he was afraid that once he cast the demon out that it would go into one of them and encouraged them to become Christians in that moment. Apparently everyone accepted Christ at that point. Then Ceferino began to pray that the man would be delivered from the evil spirit. I’m not sure how long it took, but it came out and the man fell to the ground like he was dead. By the way, he commanded it to come out silently so as not to wake us up upstairs. Ceferino told the family not to worry, that he was just sleeping (of course he has done this type of thing many times). After an hour and a half, the man finally came to. He sat up and asked where he was, and after it was explained to him what happened, he accepted Christ.

This is a very short account of the events, but we wanted to share about it because it is just another window into our lives here in Venezuela. The spiritual world is the focus here: from being ‘slain in the spirit’ during worship, to deliverance ministry, to the witch doctor living across the street from us. It has taken a bit to get used to, but now it all seems much more normal and those passages in the Bible where Jesus casts out demons are starting to become more relevant.
On Monday night a handful of people became Christians because they saw first-hand the power of God delivering their friend from evil. And for me, I didn’t even have to see it to believe it.

Prayer requests: Smooth transition as we move to the boys home near Caracas today.
That we would remain connected with the Shalom Church while we are away.
Once again that we can renew our visas within Venezuela.