Nearly a thousand people showed up for the first meeting, held in an open field surrounded by mango trees, but local leaders had hoped for more. Unfortunately a prominent witch doctor, Muhamoud, had threatened to disrupt the sessions by releasing a box full of deadly snakes into the crowd. Muhamoud’s real trade, despite his Muslim name, was selling magic charms and practicing witchcraft. For years he had kept the people of Soroti under his spell. Although there were several Christian churches in the area, it was rare for anyone to show any interest in joining them.
Robert, knowing nothing of Muhamoud’s trade or threats, admonished the people boldly to dispense with their reliance on witchcraft and turn in faith to the living God. As the conviction of the Holy Spirit fell, people who had been hesitantly fingering their charms discarded them as if they were hot coals. The power of God swept across the crowd, dissolving tumors, opening blind eyes and restoring withered limbs. At least six cripples walked out of the meeting under their own power.
The news spread like wildfire. Recounts Kayanja:
When I got up to preach the second day, Muhamoud was furious. He brought his box full of snakes to the meeting and threw challenges openly. The crowd by now had grown twice as large, and people were streaming in on bicycles, running and carrying their babies. With everyone looking on, Muhamoud stood up in front of me and screamed, “Get out of this town! If you bother my potions, which I have sold to the people, I’ll kill you.”
Instead of heeding his warning, however, we carried on with our ministry. Another 111 people were saved that day, and the witchcraft charms continued to pile up.
As Robert collected the discarded fetishes for a public burning later in the week, Muhamoud blocked his path. “When the rain comes at ten o’clock tomorrow morning,” he hissed, “you will see my power.”
Despite the threat, Robert and his colleagues left the meeting rejoicing in everything God had done. Having fasted all day, they were very hungry. But it did not take long into the evening meal before they discovered something seriously amiss. Robert recalls:
After three bites I heard the Holy Spirit say, “Stop eating. The food is wrong.” Although I put my fork down immediately, the others had already eaten and were starting to faint. My stomach was also becoming upset, and I could not feel my tongue. I began to pray, because I knew we had been bewitched. When I called the cook into the room, he confessed that Muhamoud had paid him to sprinkle a powder on the food. Not surprisingly, this man was very fearful—but we just prayed for him and extended forgiveness. As we did so, God gave us a breakthrough. Almost before we could say, “Amen,” we vomited out everything we had eaten and were saved.
At exactly ten the next morning, it began to drizzle. Instead of lying dead, however, as the witch doctor had expected, the team was busy teaching a Bible seminar—a turn of events that was not lost on the people. By two o’clock the crowd had grown to about four thousand. Many individuals had climbed up into the nearby trees in order to get a better view.
Frustrated by his earlier failure, Muhamoud walked into the crowd and pulled the lid off his magic box. Looking up at me, he said, “Now we will see who has the real power.” With that, Muhamoud and his two attendants pulled out a long, green snake and sent it onto the platform.
As it came slithering up, the people in the audience were leaping out of the way. Trying to ignore the whole affair, I was about to make a point when my interpreter suddenly jumped off the platform. Gesturing frantically, he yelled, “Look behind you!” Turning around, I saw the snake coiling up as if to say, “This is my turf now.” It was clear that the creature had been sent to attack us.
Well, the people went wild. I’ve never heard such screaming in my life. People who were selling food in the nearby markets ran over to see what was happening. I vividly remember one woman standing there with a knife and potato in each hand. Attracted by the commotion, uniformed school children returning home from school also scurried over, as did the patrons of several local bars. Altogether about six thousand people were now gathered in the field.
Looking at the green snake next to me, I commanded, “You devil, go from here!” Immediately the snake uncoiled, left the platform and returned to its box on the ground. Although Muhamoud tried to coax it out again, the snake refused to obey. In exasperation he pulled out a large cobra and yelled, “Attack!” Seconds later it came flying over the heads of the people and landed on the platform. Flaring its hood, it prepared to strike.
The crowd was now divided into two large groups—those on our side and those with the witch doctor. The air was filled with the sounds of an African war chant: “Hey-ey Hey!” We were in the middle of a classic power encounter.
Even though my knees were shaking, I said to the pastors, “This thing is not a snake, as you think; it’s a spirit.” With that one of our intercessors, a gray-haired, seventy-year-old lady, began to sing “There Is Power in the Blood.” Soon we all joined in.
As we sang, the Holy Spirit fell upon me. I suddenly felt strong enough to kill a lion. I heard the Lord say to me, Go to the snake. Pointing my finger at the swaying serpent, I rebuked it in the name of Jesus. Spiritually defanged, it uncoiled and became as straight as a rod. Then I heard the Holy Spirit telling me, Pick it up by the tail. So I grabbed the snake up and began to walk with it.
The scene was unbelievable! Trying to see what was happening on the platform, people were pushing and stepping on one another. The heathen were chanting, “Hey-ey hey,” while the Christians continued to sing worship to God. After about ten minutes, I suddenly felt a fresh surge of the Holy Spirit’s power. When I looked down at the snake, it was dead.
When the astonished witch doctor saw this, he exclaimed, “You’ve killed my snake!” Pointing out my finger at him, I said, “You’re next. You are going to die like your snake if you don’t give your life to Jesus.” Suddenly Muhamoud fell to the ground and began to writhe like an agitated serpent.
After we had cast the demons out of this man, a process that took about 45 minutes, I asked the leaders to bring him onto the platform. He was so weak he couldn’t even stand. I asked him publicly, “Do you want to believe on Jesus Christ?” When he said yes, I led him in the sinner’s prayer, then instructed the people to place his snakes and charms on the witchcraft heap for burning. At this Muhamoud vomited all over the place, coughing out everything.
The people were amazed. Many had tears running down their faces. I said, looking out on the crowd, “If you also repent of your sins, then God will visit you.” Thousands responded and were saved that day, including about thirty Muslims. It was the beginning of a great spiritual awakening in Soroti.
When we finally burned the witchcraft items, skin rashes that had plagued may of the pastors suddenly cleared up. Muha-moud himself was completely transformed. After preaching mightily in Zanzibar, he has since moved to Madagascar, where he now pastors a church of about eight hundred members.
Reprinted from The Twilight Labyrinth by George Otis Jr.