Wrestling With the Power of Darkness:

Not a Fiction
(Not for publication because of the sensitive information)

Nepal, the Land of 660 million gods and goddesses, is a unique planet within the planet earth. Every Nepalese is regarded as a god or goddess, animals too are not left out, This is the place, the voice that echoed in Eden Garden, “You shall be like gods” (My theology does not say God), have been successfully spread in the mountain garden of Nepal.  Truth is truth, whether dark or light.  Though according to John 3:16, God loves Nepal too, it has been my personal conclusion that Lucifer has made his capital here.  Not only us, the power of darkness also struggle with each other.” From childhood I witnessed such darkness, for example: masked dancers putting their fingers through the piglets body to take out their hearts to eat raw, the power of a man who carried idol for in order for him to walk toward the temple hundreds of people had to push him, necromancer performing his feat, a holy man healing people right in front of my eyes, naked sadhus smoking hashish invoking the power of Shiva, and me living with a step mother who was schizophrenic but having a super power to break her chain and stock in spite of witch doctors, shaman, divines tried to fight demons with her. As early as I was five when I had to rescue my few months old step brother when his mother tried to butcher her own child. I was kept locked with her in a small room.  Due to famine of mental hospital in Nepal (even now only one in entire country in spite of one out of 4 are mentally disturbed population according to the survey), my step mother was not cured by any drum beating shamans, and she was put in a prison where she died. Before she died I had to visit her every day to give her food, and I used to see her naked in an isolated room in the prison.

      Little did I know that the Lord was preparing me to let me understand the Great Controversy between Jesus and Satan in a larger scale through concentrated action pact incidents.

  October 8, 2012 was a normal Sabbath worship day in Gathaghar main SDA Church just a few miles from Kathmandu. Brother Gavin Simpson from Maryland was the visiting speaker that day. It was during Sabbath School program that he witnessed a scene as never before in his life no matter where he had been. A woman in congregation started to go into convulsion. She started to shake, became stiff showing her fearful eyes and putting up her fearful face. The ladies immediately surrounded her, held her powerful limbs as many of us prayed asking Jesus to chase the demons from her. I personally put the Bible on her head and prayed. It was about 30 minutes of intensive prayer of all of us that she came to normal position. But immediately the demons seem to enter into 15 year old gentle girl. She was lifted by over half a dozen ladies and took her down to the room to pray for her. Brother Gavin was so stunned that he knelt and prayed outside of the room.  We had ex-witch doctor who became Adventist who started to pray and grab her head and chin, which I had to force to release his grip, he prayed, spoke in tongues, read the Bible, and put it on her head and chest. All the while the girl was in such a feat that she started to tear the Bible with her mouth, her body was so strong that all of us about half a dozen tried to hold her down not to harm herself and any of us. She bit my knee. After 90 minutes of struggle with the demons within her through pleads  and songs, she came to be normal, and she did not have any clue what went on during that 90 minutes.  It was too much for Brother Gavin to understand the reality of demons power. After everything calm down, the service was resumed when he presented a powerful message on Rev 12 proving through history and the scripture how the devil particularly  is making war with the Remnant Church.

    Then a week passed, but on Sunday Oct 13, Brother Gavin was to witness another feat after him requesting us to see that girl. Pr. Umesh Pokherel of Gathaghar Church arranged the girl to be in the Gospel Worker’s home nearby church. Brother Gavin and I went to see her. She was perfectly normal as she described her episode. As early as age of 5 she was working as a house girl in a neighbor’s family who had a shop. The girl’s aunt too had a small shop, but it flourished more than the family’s where she worked. The family asked her to bring hair or cloth piece from her aunt. Instead from her aunt, she took the thrown out piece of cloth around the water spring and gave to the family. The family later gave her a handful of rice to spread in the shop of her aunt who became sick. They found grain of rice spread in their room. Upon inquiry and torture from her mother, the girl, by the way her name is Maya Tamang revealed how the grains of rice  were spread on the floor. Police case took place and the villagers wanted to chase the family who bewitched away from the village, but the negotiation took place through the police intervention. However, after they came out from the police station the culprit family cursed Maya saying within 8 years she would die, and they would not leave her alone. It had been 6 years, and she has 2 more years go live. Maya does not have a father who too suffered the same fate. Her only brother beat her mercilessly and her mother is too helpless and poor to do anything. Maya tries to run away and hide from her brother(18)  whenever he comes home from the hostel. Maya said, she believed in Jesus, she liked to read the Bible, but often she experienced darkness covering her making her unconscious.  She had been taken to the hospitals, shamans and necromancers, and nothing have helped her and she believed only Jesus can cure her. She was to finish her grade ten but due to this, she slid down to grade 7.

        After she narrated her story, we all knelt down to pray, even she agreed to pray. But as soon as prayer started to go up, she went into convulsion. Her hands and legs became stiff, she started to shout, half a dozen of us including 6 feet tall strong Gavin tried to hold her down. She demonstrated super strength, tore the Bible with her mouth, scratched brother Gavin who was praying as never before now acting as exorcist, I put oil on her head and we all started to pray and sing.  Her face looked like snake’s fang.  All of us were asking the Lord to remove demons from her. I anointed her head with the olive oil, which I usually do when I pray for the sick. After 45 minutes of intensive prayer and singing, she came back to normal. When she was asked whether she knew anything, she admitted that she did not. As of writing of this episode, she still continues to suffer from the demonic possession. .Brother Gavin is trying to be a good Samaritan for Maya in trying to save  her from the grip of death but the power of the One who told the story of good Samaritan is more longed by all of us.

If this were the case in America, 9/11 would have been called, of course in Nepal such service is a myth. We are thankful that we can claim John 3/16 to solve the demonic problem.    The amazing thing is this hundreds of men and women with such cases were healed coming to the church regardless of denominations resulting many joining the church and alarming the Hindu fundamentalists.  One doctor of the doctors from a reputed hospital laments on their inability to cure such case this way, “Maybe we could ask the Christian proselytizers to give us some pointers on how to move forward. They have the required qualities and a track record of being able to deliver their target objectives (mental health cure).
I am certain they would be happy to help us, if we ask them.’
Dr Lakhey is the Professor of Orthopedics and an Orthopedic Surgeon at the Kathmandu Medical College
March 19, 2012 ekantipur (The full article can be read in the earlier blog)

Nepal is a place where myth is alive. We like to see socially, spiritually , politically, economically, mentally  catch up with the 21^st century, though we know that this century is moving into deep quagmire, It is a place where we come to realization what Paul said, “We do not fight with the flesh and blood but the cosmic power of darkness.” Eph 6:12.Yet he knew that people even believers can be bewitched (Gal 3:1)  It is also a place where innocent women are tried by communities as witches making the Salem's witch trial just lost in the pages of American history books.    Nepal is also a place where a true believer is more busy fighting with such power than with any leader irregardless  who traps people with the borrowed promises. Pray and don’t play with the devil have been our day to day challenge. Won’t you pray for us in Nepal?

Possessed gods, no one dare to fool with them as they dance in trance

A perfect normal girl as she narrates her story

She goes into convulsion  in the church

Holding her down as Brother Gavin Simpson prays

She demonstrates super human strength as she gets relapses

This is the previous case that happened in May 2012. This woman in the middle started to attend the church, she went to the same traumatic experience in the church, where she was prayed for. Then we went to her house to pray. She got well, but stopped coming to the church in spite of repeated visits of church members. I personally found out that people use our church for mental asylum. When they get cured, they stopped coming to the church. In Jesus' law it is okay, but as we continue hope the problem does not reoccur. 

Bhaju Ram Shrestha

bhajupurna@gmail.com

p.s. If you would like to continue to get such human interest stories of us who are ordinary people but running along with the Extra Ordinary God  so that you can join with us as a prayer partner and follow the plea of Apostle Paul who said, "Bear one another's burden" (Gal 6:2), please let me know. The Central Adventist Church under Pastor Umesh Kumar Pokherel in Gathaghar, adjacent to the capital is growing beyond a few of us could handle. Quite a few members are those who have been released by the power of darkness. It h as two other satellite congregations where too the members experienced the power of Living God more than the living Satan, yet unfortunately we have to live within Lucifer's territory  till Jesus comes.

Lament of Psychiatric in Nepal:

An alternative to mental health care
E kantipur MAR 19 - 2012
Many of my patients come to see me with complaints of pains and aches in their bodies. Careful history-taking, examinations, along with other necessary investigations usually help me come to a diagnosis. But then there are those patients who have vague, non-localised pains, and who don’t fit into any organic diagnosis. In these cases, I refer them to my psychiatrist colleagues for an opinion. Invariably, these patients are labeled as suffering from depression and go on to receive psychiatric treatment. Mildly depressed individuals do well with counseling and medication, but the moderate and more severely depressed individuals generally need longer and more intensive treatment.
There are often patients who require regular counseling, apart from being prescribed medication. Unfortunately, many of them live far away from urban areas and do not have easy access to psychiatrists, compelling them to give up on their treatment after a couple of sessions; logistically and financially, it is not possible for them to continue. In Nepal psychiatrists are a rather rare breed of specialists—there are just a little over 50 catering to patients in the entire country. The patient load is such that they just don’t have the time to counsel at length the way they would prefer.
Poverty and lack of education among the vast majority of our patients are also reasons why they may not receive any reassuring counseling from family members and proper treatment. This is why Mr KBC from Ramechhap district, who initially came to see me for vague body pains, could not follow up his treatment with a psychiatrist. In the UK, social workers reach out to the needy in their own communities and help them along in their treatment when they fail to come back for a follow-up. The Nepali state has no such provisions. In KBC’s case, as professional counseling was not possible and his family was not of much help either, he turned to religion for relief. Although he’d been born a Hindu, there wasn’t a single temple in his VDC or priests to counsel him in his time of need, which led him to seek support from a church in his village, one that had opened its doors 10 years ago with donations from foreign sources.
This highly-organised Christian institution gave him the support and counseling he desperately needed. He converted to Christianity, as have 300 others in the last 10 years from the adjacent three VDCs with a collective population of 30,000. KBC became better and left medication. He eventually relapsed, however, and returned to us and was promptly referred to a psychiatrist.
Depression is a huge problem in our country, as it is all over the world. From the seventh position a little more than a decade ago, in 2020 it is expected to climb to the position of second leading contributor to global burden of disease in the world. Our history of violent conflict in the recent past, widespread poverty. and societal inequalities—these could all be responsible for the high prevalence of depression. The prevalence, based on a small community survey done in Kathmandu 25-30 years ago was 15 percent, but this figure may be much higher today. And possibly as an outcome of the government’s inability to provide us with solutions to the many mental health problems existing in Nepali society, we are now witnessing the proliferation of churches all over the country as a result of steady inflow of foreign money from Christian donor agencies. These churches have taken up the role of counseling these poor patients who have been failed by their state and their own society.
Christian organisations have a history of providing good education (St Xavier’s school, for example) and health services (Shanta Bhawan ie the current
Patan Hospital, for instance), and have now extended their support to the mental health arena too. These churches do well because they are usually dedicated, extremely well-organised, well-versed in local societal problems and very result-oriented: traits I would actually like to see in our state actors if health care in our country is to be taken forwards.
Nepal is chock-full of complainers. We complain all the time of the perpetual problems of bad governance, poverty, injustice and inequality, but when it comes to putting in the effort to find a way out, we become passive. If our political leaders have consistently failed to place us in the path of peace, stability and prosperity, it would be logical to seek alternatives ourselves. Maybe we could ask the Christian proselytisers to give us some pointers on how to move forward. They have the required qualities and a track record of being able to deliver their target objectives.
I am certain they would be happy to help us, if we ask them.
Dr Lakhey is the Professor of Orthopaedics and an Orthopaedic Surgeon at the Kathmandu Medical CollegeMarch 19, 2012 ekantipur