My friend, "Danny"

Just saw my Firestone friend, Danny, while we were in England together at a conference. Before then, he had just arrived on the field, along with his visiting mother, in order to begin new work for Christ's kingdom in South Asia. The following email excerpts reflect some of the amazing things God is doing through this very young man, who is laying aside a lot of artistic ambitions to pursue Jesus' glory among people who have not yet heard.

"One night my mother was awakened from a deep sleep about 3:30am by loud noises in the attic followed by sharp knife like chest pains. She responded to this intrusion with Bible scripture and commanding any evil "spirits," to leave in the name of Jesus...And they were gone!

After not being able to sleep she later came downstairs to the kitchen to find that both the mother and daughter were awake and were having their special prayer time prior to daily chores. The daughter just finished her Koran lessons with an Islamic priest who comes over regularly. My mother shared what had happened in detail making them quite intrigued and saw her as "A brave woman!"

Informing them of the Holy Scriptures, which reveal truth about evil spirits showed them that with the power and authority of Jesus...the evil spirits must leave. Now around this time I had come downstairs to join in on the conversation and remembered hearing from a teammate that the daughter had a charm around her neck that was said to help her heart pains she was experiencing.

So I ask her, "Do you happen to have a charm around your neck?" she said, "Yes!" and pulled it out. (These charms are small peaces of cloth or metal with small bits of Koranic script inside. It is then"blessed" by an Islamic Shaman--like a medicine man) My mom and I began to explain how these charms not only demonstrate your dependence on something/someone other than God, but they invite evil spirits (Jinn) to enter into you, your home, and/or effect anyone around you. We provided Scripture to back up these facts and before we had finished the daughter ripped off the charm and asked what we should do? I suggested that she should burn the charm. So we proceeded to the attic where it all began...with the daughter's mom holding the charm on an old comb and the daughter lighting it with a lighter. We all prayed together and claimed the house as a place for God and no longer any spirits. The event concluded by the daughter telling the whole house hold when they woke up the entire happening in detail! She agreed that when God does something great..you are to tell everyone! Pray for my sister...that she would put her complete trust in her Creator. May she experience God's unmatchable power and taste His eternal glory!

Down the street to the local market area and then down a muddy road through rice fields and houses as big as some of our bedrooms lives my good friend, whom I will call the Dancer. Anyone who has met him or heard of him knows he is nineteen years old and full of energy that will blow you away. He always brings entertainment to any household with his songs and dance moves. He is even now a part of a local pop group that have become very popular around the valley. So the Dancer was over one day during my mother's stay and he was telling us a graphic story of him and his friend being attacked by spirits. He shared that they were walking toward his home one night and were confronted by an evil spirit in the bushes...He was making threats of attacking them for walking in this area at night. Quickly they ran home to escape, but the spirit followed them. In the front room this spirit began to pick them up in mid- air. My friend was pushed against the wall, while his buddy was slammed to the ground continuously. Then he tells that the "Good spirit" that lives in his attic came to him saying to recite verses of the Koran. He describes that there was so much pressure on him that he could barely say a word. Finally he doesn't know why, but both him and his friend were let go. After telling this story, both my roommate (an intern to our company) and my mother laid hands on Him and began to pray against any spirits...then he began to laugh and spin his head as though he was crazy until he began to cough extremely hard. There was no doubt that a spirit just came out of him!! The next day we saw him and he asked, "What happened last night? I cannot remember anything!" Since then I have seen him, but a few times...not long enough to get a new report other than that his friend is still having problems--frequent visits from the spirits. Please pray for the Dancer... That, like my sister, he would know the Truth of Jesus that it may set him free! Pray that he would not forget the truth we have told him about Jesus...and that if He does not ask the Spirit of God to fill that now empty spot...more evil spirits will return. Pray that between our schedules we would both be able to meet again to talk further. He is very receptive to new ideas, such as truth about Jesus and loves singing worship songs. Pray that the Dancer may be a young man of peace!

Thank you for your prayers on behalf of Danny and his new work.