The name of Jesus is mightier than witchcraft

The name of Jesus is mightier than witchcraft.

For Pastor James Cuffee, witchcraft is real. It's dangerous. It's deadly. It killed his father, and his cousin was murdered at the hands of a witch who claimed she could turn herself into a tree. In deeply remote areas of Liberia, one of the world's hotspots for witchcraft, fighting the occult and bringing the lost to Christ is what missionaries' work looks like. "I came from a pagan home. My dad was a great hunter," Cuffee, of Christ Evangelistic Fellowship Ministries in Liberia, told The Christian Post in an email interview. The missionary said that practitioners of witchcraft demanded that his father make sacrifices to the gods of the land."They [would] tell him to bring rice, chicken and sheep, they [would] perform their ritual, and take it to the white big rock in the jungle. They used to worship the rock, believing that there is a supreme power [in] it. They [would] go there and bow down to it, some even worshiping high forests and deep rivers," he recalled.When Cuffee's father broke the rules in 1969, he was killed. But he wasn't the only family member the pastor would lose to witchcraft."My cousin was also killed by the witch when she and her friend had a [quarrel], which led to a face fight, [and the witch] promised to kill my cousin." While over 85 percent of Liberia's population is Christian, some deep inland areas in the West African country haven't been reached by foreign missionaries for more than 200 years, according to Christian Aid Mission, a nonprofit group assisting overseas ministries, including CEFM. While there is much debate among Christian circles over the particularities of witchcraft, for missionaries like Cuffee, who are working in some of the most remote areas in the world to help lead people to Jesus Christ, there is no question — witchcraft is real. "Yes, witchcrafts [are] real forces from the devil using human beings or other creatures who are under the direct or indirect control of evil spirits to destroy human lives, as instructed to by the devil," he told CP. The pastor, whose ministry is serving 38 communities around the country, pointed to several passages in the Bible, including Micah 5:12 and 2 Kings 9:22, which talk about the existence of witchcraft. The dangers associated with the practice of witchcraft are very real, he said, starting first and foremost with the rejection of Christ as Lord and Savior. Cuffee explained that in the communities he serves, individuals involved in the occult can sometimes be people's family members, part of organizations, or even part of a church. He said those who admit to serving evil spirits have given themselves over to be used by the devil in order to carry out evil acts and plans. What this results in is followers of the occult finding themselves alone, "never being satisfied," always "having evil thoughts" and wanting to do evil to others. He warned that such lost people look to make others in their community sick, and sometimes shed innocent blood. Believers are trying to bring those who practice witchcraft to Christ, but it is a difficult and dangerous task, Cuffee explained. "Unless the spirit of God convicts them," he said, they remain "opposed to the Gospel message." As CAM explained, Varney's entire family decided to become Christians, but then his rice and cassava crops mysteriously withered. Then the new believer was stricken by a debilitating illness that no doctor had any idea how to treat. Cuffee said that only the community's prayer for help from Jesus managed to restore Varney's health. "He couldn't talk. But after the prayer, he began to talk and ask for water to drink. Thereafter, a few hours later, he began to eat his food," he said, according to CAM. The pastor told CP that even when people decide to follow Jesus, they will continue facing temptations, sickness and other difficulties. "Satan will always try you" but will lose, such as when "the power of God descended upon Varney on that day, when we prayed," Cuffee said. As appeared in christianpost.com.

The Gospel Truth Newspaper - 13.03.2018