God Rescues Witchcraft Practicer in Africa
May 2023
Mboi is one of Encompass’s partner evangelists in the Central African Republic (CAR).
One day when he was taking a trip to a remote village, he decided to rest in a village along the way. There he saw a man with a reputation for practicing witchcraft. The man approached Mboi and asked him for a ride.
Mboi asked the man, “Do you know who I am?”
The man said, “No.”
Mboi asked, “Out of all the people here, why did you come up to me asking for a ride?”
The man explained that he had approached another pastor earlier that morning asking for a ride, but the pastor declined to help him because of his reputation. Mboi was familiar with the man’s reputation, but decided to give him a ride anyway. Instead of operating in fear, Mboi trusted God’s sovereignty and used this encounter as an opportunity to shine God’s light into the man’s situation.
As the two men rode in the car together, they began talking.
Mboi knew that as a witch doctor, this man claimed to have the power to save people’s lives, but that most of his clients usually ended up not surviving. When Mboi confronted the man about it, the man confessed that his motivation for practicing witchcraft was for the income. Operating under the boldness of the Holy Spirit, Mboi told the man, “One day you will stand before God. What do you think He will have to say about your lifestyle?”
The man sheepishly said that he didn’t know.
From there, Mboi used the rest of the car ride to explain the way of salvation to the man, and he seemed to be convicted. When they got to his house, the man invited Mboi to come inside. Most people might have been scared to go into a witch doctor’s home, but Mboi took him up on his offer. Then he invited the man to start attending the church in his town.
Three months later, the pastor of that town’s church contacted Mboi and thanked him. He said that the man had completely changed and was now a believer. And the pastor invited Mboi to conduct the man’s baptism!
God pulled that man out of darkness and into life, but He used Mboi to do it. That wasn’t how Mboi expected to spend his day, but God’s plans were bigger! Father, please help us to be more sensitive to your Spirit and open to how You might be calling us to spend our time today.
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