The God of the Impossible (By Shane Prewitt)

“Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15).
    
In 2017, our church family embraced the amazing challenge with one of our missionaries to adopt the village of Ahumbe, Nigeria. The goal was to help transform the village and break the cycle of extreme poverty. Because of your generosity, to date we have donated over $71,000 to this cause.
    
In the coming weeks you will be receiving a letter from our Missions Team, as well as an update during our worship services, to see some of the ways God has used your generosity to accomplish this goal.
    
Not only has our partnership helped tackle some of the most important poverty issues in the region, but also God has been moving in powerful ways in the people’s hearts.
    
Here is an excerpt from an update we received from the field regarding the conversion of a former “Witch Doctor”. (Please note we are unable to share the picture that is referenced.)
    
    
The traditional medicine man (what we in the West call a “Witch Doctor”) is seen with the idols and trinkets that he used to heal (and curse) people by means of the “Dark Arts.” Incredibly, last week this man had a vision and he repented of the evil he was doing and received Christ as his Lord and Savior.
 
This is a translation of what the evangelist Moses sent me …
 
“I never knew him before. I was on the (motor) bike when he saw me and stopped me. He started telling me that when he saw me, something (caught) his attention. He told me he had a dream where he was laying down in the midst of 7 coffee (coffins) and he was asked to get into one. (Then) two men came to him in white and help(ed) him out. Now he wants to follow Christ. That was when he took me to his house and also asked the wife to join him and accept Christ. I lead him and his family to Christ and he followed me to church (started attending).”
 
Not only that, more importantly, he publicly “renounced his idols and work.” The likelihood of a Witch Doctor abandoning his craft is almost impossible. Usually, the title and the actual evil spirits themselves are inherited from his family. From an early age, he was taught the Dark Arts and how to conjure evil spirits. Now that he has become a Christian, he also has to find another job and as he put it, he has no way to “feed his family.” When you look at it, he gave up his entire future and considered all of it rubbish in order to gain Christ and be found in him (Philippians 3:8-9). This makes our decision to follow Christ look small.
 
I want to give a shout out to our home church, Parma Heights Baptist, which adopted this village and helped make this amazing story possible.
 
If you noticed from the title I said “Another” Witch Doctor comes to Christ. If you remember, about a decade ago, the first time I showed the Jesus film in Africa I had a unique experience. The first night we went to this village the projector blew up. The next night we pulled in just after dark and we couldn’t set up the screen. We decided to show the film on the outside wall of a nearby hut. When the film finished, we learned that it was the local Witch Doctor’s hut. That night, he and his wife both received Christ and decided to serve in the Kingdom of Light, instead of in the Kingdom of Darkness.
 
Thank you for helping to spread the Gospel in difficult places and making the impossible happen.
    

    

What a wonderful testimony of what God is doing. PHBC, your generosity and prayers have made a tremendous difference. Thank you for advancing the gospel through your faithfulness.
    
Better Together,
Pastor Shane