Report from Kolahun, Liberia
Turning From Juju to Jesus
Many people in West Africa go to a witchdoctor or medicine man to buy protection from curses. The witchdoctors perform a ceremony and tie a string of beads around the person’s waist or give them a fetish or a ring to wear. This practice is called juju.
The witchdoctor warns the person who wants protection, “Don’t ever take off the juju beads or a curse will kill you.” As a result, people often keep the string of beads on their waist for many years or they carry the fetish with them everywhere they go. Often if a child is sick, people go to the witchdoctor instead of visiting a real doctor. Mothers tie the beads around their child’s bellies.
The problem is that these fetish beads are actually tools of the devil. Instead of protecting the recipient from a curse, it actually brings a curse upon their lives. Often children with these beads are paralyzed and can not walk. Often when people visit a medicine man, they are tormented by demons which causes them to go back to the witchdoctor to purchase more protection.
At our crusade, we preached about how Jesus sets us free from every kind of curse. We gave an altar call and hundreds of people lifted their hands for salvation. After we prayed a prayer of salvation with them, we told the people they no longer needed demonic juju beads for protection. We announced, “Jesus is more powerful than any juju curse.”
Right next to the stage there was a woman with a paralyzed baby. She pulled up her boys’ shirt. She tugged at the string of beads around his stomach. In a sudden burst, the string broke and beads flew everywhere. She grabbed the string and threw it to the middle of the stage. We prayed for the child and for the first time in several months the baby started to move his arms and legs.
Suddenly another mother tore the beads off her child. Then another.
We announced, “If you gave your life to Jesus tonight, you no longer serve the demons that held you captive. Cut the beads off your waist and bring them to the stage. Remove every fetish or ring the witchdoctors have given you and throw them here.”
As we sang a song of praise, people cut off their juju beads and threw them to the platform. From the left and the right and the front and the back the colorful strings of beads came. As the people cut off their juju beads they shouted, “Halleluiah!” Quickly a small mountain of juju formed in the middle of the platform.
We found a metal bowl and put all the juju beads and fetishes into it. We doused everything with a generous amount of gasoline and then we lit a match. Woosh! The fire instantly sent flames leaping up into the air. People moved back from the heat of the flames. Then they began to dance and celebrate. No longer will they be held by the power of the witchdoctor. Now, because of Jesus, they are free.
Report from Foya, Liberia
The story of our recent crusade in Foya, Liberia begins at the New York Bagel Café in Tulsa, Oklahoma. One day I was in the café working on my laptop and a friend introduced me to an evangelist from Liberia named Billy Bimba. He was born in Liberia, and his father was a pastor in Foya. When Billy was young he traveled from village to village preaching about Jesus. But when a war broke out in Liberia, his family was forced to flee to the United States.
As we spoke, Brother Bimba told me he had a calling from God upon his life to preach the Gospel. I recognized his passion for evangelism. He asked, “Why don’t you come to Liberia and do a crusade?”
He shared with me his vision to reach all of Liberia for Jesus. God had given him a sound system and a platform for doing crusades. Brother Bimba just needed a truck to transport the crusade setup. Because of the generosity of King Ministries partners, I was able to give him a gift towards the purchase of a truck. He used the news of my gift to raise the rest of the funds to purchase a beautiful new truck for his ministry. With everything in place to do a crusade, we scheduled the dates to go to Liberia.
Arriving in Liberia
I landed in Monrovia and Brother Bimba met me at the airport. We got in a Landcruiser and headed towards Foya. It is only 283 miles on a map but it took our team two days because most of those miles are on dirt roads.
As we traveled, I learned a new song:
If you believe and I believe
and we together pray;
the Holy Spirit will come down
and Foya will be saved.
The Holy Spirit will come down
And Foya will be saved.
On the second day of our journey we bounced over dirt roads for over twelve hours. On the way we stopped for a brief break. There was a group of boys and teens carrying machetes headed to work. I pulled out a Gospel sticker and shared the good news with them. The whole group prayed with me for salvation.
When we finally arrived, the local churches in Foya greeted us with a parade. They played drums and shook gourds covered in beads in rhythm. The noise was deafening but full of rejoicing. As we traveled through the center of town, we saw banners announcing the crusade everywhere. The city was excited to welcome us.
Early Morning Prayer Meeting
The churches in Foya were hungry for a move of God. They held a prayer meeting at 5:30 a.m. every day we were there. At that time in the morning it is still dark outside, and I had to use a flashlight to walk to the church. Inside I saw pastors laying on the floor crying out to God for revival. More and more believers arrived at the church and by the time the sun came up over the horizon, the church was full of men and women on their knees earnestly praying for a move of God. By the time the roosters started to crow, we all had our hands up as we asked God to touch the city.
The Crusade in Foya
In the Kessi language, names reflect where a person stands in his family’s birth order. All first born sons are known as “Sah.” I am the firstborn son of my father, so Brother Bimba introduced me as “Sah-King.”
The first night of the crusade we launched “Liberia for Jesus,” an initiative to reach everyone in Liberia with the Gospel through rural crusades. The verse God gave me for this plan to reach the nation is Matthew 9:35, “Jesus went to every town and village…teaching…preaching…and healing.” We saw all three principles from the ministry of Jesus at work in Foya.
Teaching – Our Fire Conference was packed with hungry leaders who were excited to receive teaching on evangelism and the Holy Spirit.
Preaching – Thousands of people attended all five nights of the crusade. When we gave the altar call people came running to the front to give their lives to Jesus.
Healing – Jesus healed many people. One night so many people came up on the platform to testify that we were worried the platform might collapse because of the weight.
Over the course of the five-day crusade, thousands of people were touched by the power of God. Thank you for helping us preach the Gospel in Foya, Liberia! The ministry partnership we launched at this crusade will continue until all of Liberia is impacted by the Gospel.
Your Missionary Evangelist,
Dr. Daniel King
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