Overcoming Evil

Witch doctors, curses, and witchcraft are very real in Zambia, especially in the rural areas. These traditional religious practices and beliefs are as much a part of the Zambian culture as independence and materialism are to our own American lifestyle. Even long-time Christians have a difficult time resisting the pressure to turn to witchcraft.

On Monday one of the high school sponsored students came to see me. Prize is a very intelligent young man and a hard worker. I had been surprised when his grades for the first term showed he was failing several courses. Now he looked at me with hollow eyes and said simply, “Madam, I cannot come back to school this term.”

“Are you sick?” I asked.

“Yes, Madam. I fall asleep in class and I can’t study. My sleep is disturbed at night.”

“Have you been to the clinic? Do you have medicine?”

“The clinic cannot help me, Madam.” I knew immediately what was coming next, and I dreaded to hear it.

“Prize, you don’t think you are cursed, do you?”

“Yes, Madam. At night I see a woman coming to me and holding me down by my arms. I am paralyzed.” He went on describing other ways he was being “witched.”

By this time David had joined us, and together we pulled out the Bible and read passages to Prize about the power of Jesus Christ to overcome the power of Satan. We tried our best to convince him that evil could not control him because he was a child of God. He just stared at us, his shoulders sagging. We were not getting through.

Prize has no parents and has had many difficulties in life, so my Western mind jumped to mental illness as a cause of his problems. I began to explain depression and ask him about feelings of overwhelming sadness. He steadfastly insisted that he was not depressed. He was convinced that he was under a curse and could not come back to school. He wanted to go live with his brother in Kalomo.

David and I looked at each other, wondering what to do next. “Wilson!” David said.

I grabbed my cell phone and called Wilson, the headmaster at a nearby school. He is known for his strong faith and his equally strong stand against the powers of witchcraft. I explained the situation to him, and even though it was the first day of the new term, Wilson welcomed us to bring the young man by to talk with him.

David was headed for Choma that morning anyway, so he dropped Prize off at Wilson’s office on the way. A couple of hours later David stopped back by on his way home, just as Wilson and the school’s Bible teacher were finishing their counseling session with Prize.

A greater transformation can hardly be imagined. Gone were the sagging shoulders and hollow eyes. Instead of going back to his brother’s home in Kalomo, Prize insisted on returning to Namwianga to get registered for Term 2. “I am standing firm in Christ,” he said. “You have done good work today.”

Later that week Wilson called to check on Prize, so I tracked him down after chapel. His bright eyes and broad smile told me what I needed to know even before he could get the words out. “I am fine, Madam. Thank you. You have done good for me.”

I don’t know what Wilson said to him, but I plan to find out. Until then I will rejoice in the words of I John 4:4. You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.