Sunday night we meet at Angel and Katty’s house for church. This particular gathering turned out to be quite a memorable evening.

Maritza, our fellow Ecuadorian missionary partner, preached an evangelistic message.  Gloriously seven people received Christ as Savior as first-time attenders at Angel’s house church gathering.  Our meeting ended about 10:15 pm.

As we were loading the car to go home, an unknown man arrived. Angel introduced us and let us know he was the same "Pedro" we had been praying for as a church for many months.  Pedro arrived in a state of visible anxiety and tension.  He looked physically exhausted and asked us to pray for him saying he could no longer face the many problems he had in his life.

Though we were very tired and ready to get back home, Maritza, Linda, and I walked him out to the street and Began ministering to him next to our car. As usual, Maritza, the evangelist, began witnessing to Pedro. She asked him if he had ever had a personal encounter with Christ.

Pedro seemed confused and unresponsive. After a few minutes of seemingly not getting through to him, I noticed another man coming towards us from down the street. As soon as Pedro saw this person he pulled a foot-long knife out of his sleeve and instantly transformed into an obviously demon-possessed person.  He was filled with rage and his countenance dramatically changed.

Linda, Maritza and I were only a few steps away from Pedro when he pulled the knife. We began shouting at Pedro to drop the knife in the Name of Jesus!  After a minute or so of him glaring and hissing obscenities at us, he dropped the knife. I quickly scooped it out of the street and threw it in back of our car.

For the next 30-minutes or so we were in an all-out spiritual battle casting out the demons in control of Pedro at that moment. I have never faced such hatred and vitriol coming out of anyone's mouth. Mercifully the Lord blocked our ears from hearing anything the demons were saying. Maritza began reading aloud several Psalms. The church gathered around us to pray. Some then began singing praise songs, but still nothing was happening with Pedro.  

By then a small crowd of bystanders had gathered out on the street to watch at a distance. Neighbors peered from their windows.  The new believers gathered around us and began singing all the praise songs they knew from our green songbook. The three of us continued to pray over Pedro casting out the demons in Jesus’ Name.  After some 15-minutes of praying and Scripture reading and songs, Pedro began heaving—as if throwing up—as the demons began to leave his body. This happened over and over for several more minutes.  When he finally stopped heaving, Martiza asked if he wanted Christ to come into his life. Pedro said yes, and we made him pray aloud confessing Jesus as Lord. We continued to pray over Pedro asking the Lord to forgive his sins, cleanse him, and to rid him of any remaining demons that still might be refusing to leave.

This went on for many more minutes. Pedro seemed soothed by the singing and kept asking us to “sing another song.”  Not knowing what else to do, we continued to sing and pray as he stood there soaking in the Spirit’s presence.  By this time Pedro was very weak.  Angel and I had to physically hold him up.  Finally though, he collapsed into my arms like a dead man. We gently laid him down in the middle of the dirt (mud) road. After a few more minutes Pedro again opened his eyes but had NO IDEA where he was, or what had happened. It was surreal. He looked all around him and asked who we were and why was he lying in the middle of the road. We calmly explained to him everything he had been through for the previous hour.  Everyone was amazed at what they had witnessed—as were we!

I asked two of the men to accompany me to take Pedro home in our car. We set up a time for the following day to visit and follow up on his decision to follow Christ. What transpired in the days that followed is quite a story as well. Suffice it to say we have seen a dramatic change come over Pedro from that Sunday night to the present! He has started sleeping with his new Bible and fishing with a new partner who is also a believer.

Last Sunday Pedro was baptized in the ocean a few feet from our back porch along with seven other new believers. To God be the Glory; great things He hath done!  Please pray for Pedro. He still has many serious issues to deal with in his life and very much needs our prayers.