A Snake with a Crushed Head

Yesterday at pastors' prayer, Christophe Dembele told a story that you'll want to hear. He hosts medical teams from Canada that go to various towns to do mobile clinics. The group that was here last week went to a village called Boura. Those of you who know Mali church history are aware of its colorful past as one of the "soap opera" areas of the Evangelical Christian Church.

On the way to the village, the team encountered a variety of difficulties like flat tires. Christophe began sensing the opposition of the enemy. Pastor Paul Sanou, the Boura district president welcomed them warmly, and they got to work. The mobile clinic went well and Pastor Timothée Coulibaly preached in the evenings at open-air evangelistic meetings. However, Christophe continued to sense demonic opposition. He knows what fetish power exists in the Boura area.

Over time, Christophe has developed a way to help those who are frustrated that they weren't treated receive an opportunity to be touched by God. He calls anyone who still needs healing to come and they'll pray for them. Before the crowd came, the believers were praying. Christophe says, "I don't usually have visions, but I clearly saw a snake surrounded by blood." Once he was over his surprise, he interpreted it that Satan is a defeated foe and it was time to stand up to him.

When the villagers gathered for healing prayer, Christophe told the believers in Jesus to stand to the side and leave room for the others. He said to the crowd, "If you want God to heal you, get rid of anything object of spiritual power that you have on you. Take it off and throw it on the ground."

People began taking charms and fetishes off of themselves, literally ripping them off their bodies. One man couldn't break the cord off his neck so a Canadian nurse ran to get a pair of scissors. One fulani man went through a major struggle before finally removing the charm off of his arm.

Once all the occult objects were piled before them, Christophe led in prayer. God showed up and people were healed. Afterwards, the Malian woman who accompanies the teams to help with cooking and logistics said to Christophe, "I'm glad you did what you did because during our time of prayer earlier, I had a vision of a snake with his head crushed in." In that way the Lord confirmed that Christophe had truly heard from God.

It gets better. The  next day a leader of the majority religion in a nearby village approached Pastor Sanou saying, "I want you to come to my town. I know that I lead another religion and even paid personally to roof our house of worship. However, after what I saw last night I want to follow Jesus. My two wives and four of my "followers" are going to commit themselves as well."

Go God!