From an account from the Zambia REACH team

God’s power can overwhelm demons, heal the sick, and transform lives in a moment. Many times it’s not that dramatic; it’s the quiet transformation of the everyday. But some members of the Zambia REACH team recently got the privilege of a front row seat for the more dramatic display of that power.

It started when two members of the team went to breakfast with a missionary couple. This couple was part of a team that was reaching out to some remote tribes, and they invited the REACHers to go along to a new village where a people called the Tonga lived. They were friendly to outsiders, but under a lot of superstition and spiritual darkness.

The two team members accepted the invitation and set out with two of the missionaries, Bob and Joe, and a local Christian named Friday. It wasn’t an easy trip. “There’s a definite reason this tribe (and hundreds of tribes like them) are unreached,” one of the team members said. “The roads were pretty horrible.” Bob told them it costs about $500-$700 for each trip.

When they finally got to the village, they introduced themselves to the headman, and asked permission to stay. He granted permission, so they set up their tents and waited for sunset when the people came in from the fields. Then they started a service and Friday, who knew the language, presented the gospel.

Sometimes mission workers see only a few people follow God in many years of work, but this night it wasn’t that way. The people’s hearts were ready—15 of them committed to Jesus, and several sick people came for prayer. But there were spiritual forces that were not going to give up without a fight.

Right after they started praying for one of the women who had made a commitment, a demon manifested itself in her by shaking her violently for about a minute. They kept rebuking it in Jesus’ name and commanding it to leave, and after it shook her for a little it left and she was back in her right mind.

Another woman was also gripped by a demon. She shook, stiffened up, and made bird noises, but that demon was driven out also. “That was really awesome to see God working his power in those people,” one of the REACHers said, “even in those who weren’t possessed but were definitely in need of Jesus.” One man who they thought had cancer told them that he was now ready to die if that’s what God wanted.

Before they left, they had another service the next night and more people believed in Jesus. “To see the genuine desire the villagers had to get to know God—amazing,” one of the team said.

It sounds like a story out of the book of Acts, but it happened in 2010. The same God who shook the Roman world of that time reached into an African village and transformed it, and he let the REACHers be a part.