Breaking Obstacles to Salvation

Cherry became a housekeeper for a missionary family in a majority Buddhist nation. It was her first encounter with Christians and the first time she had ever heard the name of Jesus. Over a period of several years Cherry grew increasingly interested in Christianity, but something kept her from committing her life to Jesus.

Cherry agreed to weekly Bible studies with the missionaries, and one day while meeting together, the subject of ghosts and evil spirits came up. The missionaries explained that ghosts were not spirits of dead people as many believe, but instead were demonic spirits from Satan trying to control people through fear and demonstrations of power. 

Cherry surprised them by disagreeing strongly. She said she knew for certain that ghosts existed because her dead father recently revealed himself to her. Her daily practice was to “feed” her father’s ghost by meditating, lighting incense, and leaving food at his urn on the spirit shelf in her home. One day she experienced a terrific headache and realized she had forgotten to “feed” her father’s ghost. She rushed home, did the deed, and her headache immediately disappeared. 

The missionaries prayed for Cherry and challenged her to stop “feeding” her father’s ghost for one week to test and see whether Jesus is stronger than the evil spirits pretending to be her father. They prayed intensely throughout the week that followed. 

Upon meeting a week later, they asked Cherry, “Did you ‘feed’ your father last week?” 

“No,” she answered. 

“Did you have any headaches?” they asked.

“No,” she answered.

“Are you ready to give your life to Jesus?” they asked.

“Yes,” she answered, and prayed with the missionaries to receive Jesus as her Lord and Savior.