WE CONTINUE THE story of men and women in the Central Congo being enriched in Christ. One man said, “I’ve ruined my life by drinking and adultery, and my marriage was on the rocks, but that’s all gone, and I’m happy now.” Another man said, “I’ll never turn my heart toward dirty things again. Now I don’t know anything in my heart but God.” A woman said, “I was a thief, stole chickens, I was married three times, I worshiped idols, went to the witch doctor for the birth of a child. I’ve given it all up, and I’m thankful to God, morning, noon, and night.” Another woman said, “I was bewitched, smoked, committed adultery. But now the very smell of cigarettes is bad to me.” A man said, “I went to the witch doctor to get a charm so I could get animals, as I had a gun. He gave me the tail of an animal—he said that would help to have success in hunting. I now see it was no good. I’ve renounced it all.” Another man said, “I acted like a crazy person. I had bad affairs with the witch doctor. I also discovered that the Kings of the Forest [a secret society] had an idol pit in the forest and had a man down in it shaking the head of the idol when questions were asked.”
A man began to tell how good he was—how he had not done this or that—and all of a sudden from the side of the women there was a concerted, “Boo!”—which meant, “Bunk!” The man sat down abruptly. A witch doctor said, “I gave it all up. Now Jesus has come into my heart.” A man said, “I gave up to 2,600 francs to see the face of an idol.” A woman said, “We were in darkness, we didn’t know any better. I’ve been going to the witch doctor. Now I believe in Jesus.”
In front of the pulpit there was a pile of renounced idols, charms, and leopard skins used by the witch doctor, symbols of the cleansing taking place. There was a perfect stillness over the audience as each person told of his or her personal conversion. It was the most cleansing movement I have ever seen. They were “enriched in him.”
O Jesus, Lord and Savior, I thank Thee for Thy cleansing power among the people emerging from barbarity, and among the cultured and refined but inwardly beaten and empty. Everywhere Thy touch is saving. I thank Thee. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: “A more equitable distribution of riches” is a socialistic slogan—God’s distribution of the riches of grace is equitable and lavish.
