If you read the first chapter of Mark, the first miracle that Jesus performs is casting an unclean spirit out of a man in the synagogue. Flip over a few more pages to Mark 5, Jesus casts out a legion of demons (2000+) from a man who was living as an outcast among tombs. And if you read the rest of Mark, Matthew, and Luke, you realize just how prevalent Jesus’ encounters with the demonic were in His ministry. Depending on the scholar or theologian you read, it is estimated that anywhere from 13% - 30%+ of Jesus’ miracles were demonic exorcisms. When the Church was born in Acts on the Day of Pentecost, the apostles continued that line of ministry, healing and freeing people from demons.
In La Carpio, I (Christopher) do not have to convince any of the youth that the spiritual realm is real. Many of them are full of testimonies of experiencing inexplicable events, supernatural occurrences, dreaming something that came to pass, and encountering demonic beings. Due to the high activity of witchcraft, the people are much more accepting of the reality that there is a spiritual realm that overlaps and interacts with our world regularly. I was once asked by a dear friend, “Chris, would you say spiritual warfare is more active in Latin America than in the USA?” I cannot confidently declare whether it is more active, but what I can say is that in Latin America, people recognize and call things for what they are as opposed to the general population in the USA, where we have come up with all sorts of naturalistic explanations and labels for supernatural things, even among the Church.
My first time witnessing a demonic exorcism occurred in the summer of 2021 while I lived in Los Angeles and served at the Dream Center. It happened in a park, in broad daylight, with a crowd of a few dozen people. The woman who was leading worship asked who would like prayer, and a man came up to her with his wife. The husband shared that his wife had become mute 3 months prior, and they were unsure why. They drove halfway across the country to meet this woman minister and ask her to pray for the wife. The minister began addressing the mute woman, and fairly quickly a demon began to manifest. The minister addressed the demon, commanded it to come out, and after a few minutes of writhing and spasming on the floor, the demon was gone. The formerly mute woman got up and began to speak. The crowd went wild as she and her husband cried and embraced one another. Unlike the movies, it was very down to earth. The minister did not yell; it did not last for hours; there was no holy water thrown on the mute woman or any other type of physical tool or instrument used. In short, it greatly resembled the narrative we read in our Bible.
One night a few weeks ago in La Carpio, as I was leaving, I began to minister to a young woman named Candy. She has been living in the streets for years due to her drug addiction, and I had already shared the gospel with her before. In our conversation, Candy shared that she hears voices in her head, and so I asked her if she would like me to pray for her. She concurred, and I prayed out loud for her and against any demons that may be influencing or attacking her. At that moment, her face and form contorted, and then a different person looked at me and said with an entirely different voice, “Hello.” As quickly as it happened, she reverted back to how she was before. Afterwards, I told her that I suspect the voices in her head are demons, and that it would be best for her to truly repent and desire freedom from her sins and other demonic influences, as I was unsure she truly wanted healing and that she could end up in a worse state. As I was leaving, she said to me, “I need you to know that your vision and perception of me is so clear.” That hit me to my core. I have seen Candy since then, and she continues to live in her ways. Be praying for her salvation.
Currently with some of my disciples from La Carpio, we are going through Spiritual Deliverance. We are focusing on four areas of our faith that leave us exposed to spiritual attacks: sin, occultism, generational curses, and emotional wounds. I refer to them as open doors or footholds. It has been a deep, fruitful, and meaningful time with them, and a huge reason for that is their open hearts and how seriously they have taken it. I have challenged them with the question that Hannah challenged us with in our March-April Blog Post: Do You Want To Be Healed? Be praying for us as we go through this with them.
Like any theological subject, there is so much more that can be shared, and concerning spiritual warfare, countless books have been written around the subject. We certainly do not want to fall into the extreme of believing that there is a demon under every rock and that every negative thing, no matter how big or small, or every illness is due to demonic attacks. On the other hand, we do not want to fall into the error of entirely dismissing paranormal activity. Jesus warred against the demonic. The apostolic church of Acts warred against the demonic. The Church today is also at war against demonic forces. The New Testament clearly states, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12) The question is, are our eyes opened to the spiritual reality around us?
Praise Reports:
- I began discipling two more youths, Jose and Josue, last month. It has been a good start so far and definitely different as they are the youngest people I have ever discipled (12 & 13 respectively).
- Last week, we had a refreshing and awesome time with my family. My parents and brother came and we got to spend several days at the beach and enjoy the beauties of Costa Rica. As always, the time went too quickly. Nonetheless, we are grateful for the time we all had together.
- My brother, Nicholas, is still here in Costa Rica and will be living with us until August! He already began classes at ILE to learn Spanish, and for the rest of the summer will also serve alongside us and others in ministry, and spend time with his baby niece, Eliana Grace. The blog's featured photo is of him (on the left) conversing with two of the young men from La Carpio in our Friday night discipleship.
Prayer Requests:
- Candy’s repentance, salvation, and deliverance.
- For my disciples to experience God’s freedom in deeper ways through spiritual deliverance.
- Wisdom for us as we continue to minister in Costa Rica.