The Curse That Doesn’t Alight
By Daniel Kenaston
In this feature, Crossing Cultures, we usually look at
what it is like when missionaries go from our culture into
a different culture overseas. In the past two issues we
looked at worldview and compared some differences in belief
systems and behavior of the Konkombas to Western ways.
As missionaries we observe many of these differences and
make adjustments in our behavior so as to not offend our
hosts. And we try to find appropriate ways to communicate
the gospel within their context. But sometimes there can
be no compromise when a belief is contrary to the Bible.
This is true not only for the missionary but for the national
Christian.
Again, we look into the Konkomba
belief system and see what one church leader faced in
his village, the step of faith he took, and what happened
when he
refused to go along with the normal village practice. Remember, we also face
ungodly practices around us. Let us take courage as we read this testimony
and see that God honors those who honor Him. This article is an excerpt from
a message that Daniel Kenaston preached at the 2004 Youth Bible School (tape
#3444, available from the tape ministry).
The blessing of God was on
His people. Balak, an enemy of God’s people, had called
on Balaam, a soothsayer, to come and curse the people
of God. We know
the story. He could not do it. Why? Because God forbade him. God’s blessing
was on His people, and He protected them from the curse. You will find
the story in Numbers chapters 22 – 24. (The Editor)
Balaam was called to curse Israel. The thought of the
money loomed in his eyes and lured him. But it dulled his
spiritual senses. Still, he desired to curse them. But
he could not. Why? Balaam was an honest man. When he looked
into the spirit world he spoke consistently about what
he saw. And as he looked over the children of Israel, he
could not find anything to curse. He could not find the
powers to truly curse these people. Why? Because God had
blessed them.
If God’s blessing is on your
life, Satan is fighting against you. But also, if God’s
blessing is on your life, Satan cannot do anything to
you. I love
the verse which says, “Surely, there is no enchantment against Jacob,
neither is there any divination against Israel…” (Numbers 23:23).
You have to understand that
in Africa, because witchcraft is so real, one of the
great spiritual battlegrounds for our churches and our
people there
is
fear: the fear of witchcraft, the fear of someone cursing you, the fear
that maybe this sickness is because someone threw a curse
on you. They really
fear those things. It’s real to them.
There may be uncomfortableness
in your heart when you realize that your new spiritual
advance has put you out there as a sitting duck. Satan’s
gun, so
to speak, is trained on your head. We don’t like that thought. As much
as we want to go off against Satan, it’s a fearful thing because Satan
has a
lot
of power.
I think of one of the church
leaders in our area. A couple times a year the chief
of the village will go around and tell the village people:
“It’s time
to make a sacrifice for the village so that the spirits will bless
our
village, so that our crops will grow well, so that the animals won’t
die, so that
our children will be healthy. Every head of household needs to contribute
money
so we can corporately buy an animal, and we corporately agree to the
spirits that we are giving them this animal so that they will bless
our entire
village.”
It is not a tax but it is
somewhat like a tax, except for the fact that giving
money towards that sacrifice is like putting your “hand”
on the
sacrifice.
It shows that you are making the sacrifice. It shows that you are
asking
the spirit world to bless your life.
It happens often. This is
not the first time in this particular brother’s life.
The chief called a meeting. They went around and banged
those
little bells
called bong-bongs, calling everyone to a meeting at the chief’s
palace. They called our brother along with the other
heads of households
and said: “Everybody
needs to pay up by three days from now. Each man needs to contribute
a certain amount of money towards the sheep.”
The brother went back home
to his house, and the three days passed. He did not contribute
the money.
The chief came to see him.
The chief himself is not a super-feared authority, but
the spirits are feared. The chief came to our
dear church leader
and said: “You haven’t paid. We’re ready to buy the sheep.
You need to pay
your contribution.”
And this dear brother said:
“Chief, if you want to drill a well for this village,
I will do my part; I will even do twice.
When
you need
someone
to weed your
farm, I will weed your farm. When you want somebody to come
and make blocks so that we can build a better school for
our village,
I will
be there.
But to put my hand inside the sacrifice, I will not do it.”
The chief said: “You will
see. You do not threaten me, and you do not threaten
the spirits. You will see.”
The chief went back to his
house and this brother just committed it to the Lord.
But he was a little shaky because
these things
are fearful.
You and I say, “Well, what
could a chief really do?” But he knows what a chief can
really do; he knows what
the
spirits can actually
do.
The next morning he went
out to his farm. On the way to his farm he met a snake.
Now, we have a lot of snakes
in
the
African bush,
and
almost
all of
them are
highly poisonous. But he met the snake and he killed
it. That’s not all that unusual. These farmers kill
snakes often.
He continued to his farm
and started weeding. And as he was weeding rows of corn,
in a length of three
corn
rows
that
morning our
brother killed
six snakes.
Happenstance? Never! One snake in a farm—possibly;
maybe two, maybe even three. But he killed seven
snakes that
morning!
There was no doubt in his
mind what was happening: Satan was trying to make him
afraid by sending
those seven
snakes. As
he took his
hoe and
just beat
the brains out, he called the name of Jesus and
called on God for protection. And as he killed
them, his
confidence started
growing.
The first one—wow!
His heart was beating as he killed that snake.
Then as he
started farming and killed
another one, he realized that there were a lot
of snakes, and yet none of them was biting him.
God
was showing
him those
snakes beforehand,
and as
he was
killing every one of them, he started rejoicing!
“There is no enchantment
against Jacob, neither is there any divination against
Israel.” You
are Jacob
and you
are Israel.
If you are walking
with God, there
is no enchantment against you. Though the chief,
though the evil spirits, though Satan himself,
though the
king of Moab
go and
mobilize all kinds
of curses
against you—there is no enchantment; there
is no divination; there is nothing that can happen
to
you because of
Satan’s plan, without
it going
through
the hand of God.
I understand that God does
allow bad things to happen in our lives. The book of
Job is
in the
Bible. But
that does
not mean
that you
need to
be afraid
of Satan and his devices. If you could see
from your new camp that you staked out for
God in
your life,
if you could
see
from your
camp up there
on the
mountainside
the king of Moab himself and Balaam standing
beside him trying to curse your life, don’t
be afraid!
If you should
meet seven
snakes in one
morning, don’t
be afraid! If Satan sets himself against
you because you have set yourself to follow God,
know in your
heart that
there is
security
in God’s blessing
on your life. There is no enchantment that
can do anything against you. There is no
divination of juju
(magic)
powers, no witchcraft
that can
have any
power over you, because God has blessed you.
Balaam came back to Balak
and said: “How do I curse a people that the God of heaven
has
blessed?
I
look out
over their
encampment and all
I see is
blessing!
How can I curse those people?” What Balak
did not understand is
that though the people that Balaam blessed
were blessed and the people
that he cursed
were cursed, he could only curse those
that
God curses. Those whom God blesses, he
could not
do anything against. Although
he really
wanted some of that
gold
and silver, he could not curse the people
that God had blessed.
If your heart is clear and
pure, God’s blessing is on your life, and there’s nothing that
Satan can
do about
it.
