Mostly Dead is Slightly Alive

WITCHCRAFT is such a huge problem in our area. Two weeks ago, the son in law to one of our members died in the village. They had his funeral, buried him and spent the days afterward in morning. 

Then really weird stories started to surface about family members having sightings of the deceased. “He met me on the road.” “I saw him in my house.” “He came to me out of the shadows.” These comments are what I’ve dealing with for the last 48 hrs. Then to make matters worse, a witchdoctor arrived from Malawi claiming that he could resurrect the same young man and that he wasn’t “really” dead. If it wasn’t so sad with everyone believing all this, it would be comical! All I could think of was that old man on the Princess Bride who said, “Mostly dead is slightly alive!” 

It gets better. 

The next thing we knew, one of the local head chiefs sent a sealed letter authorizing the witchdoctor to perform the before mentioned resurrection. I was dumbfounded. Then the police got involved because apparently you need a permit in order to perform public miracles. 

All this happened yesterday. 

This morning as we drove in the village, we noticed that there were still a LOT of people on the streets.  Come to find out, the original time for yesterday’s “resurrection party” got postponed to this morning. So everyone assembled once again and waited. Literally, a couple hundred people were just sitting by the road, under trees and in the shade waiting for the dead to walk again. Even after we had our own church service and were heading back in the early afternoon, they all were still there waiting! 

These events got me thinking to this coming Sunday and our own celebration of Christ’s victory over death. I’m just glad that the early disciples didn’t have to reschedule that one! And that’s the difference, isn’t it? Jesus wasn’t putting on a show. The disciples weren’t the architects of His resurrection, but its witnesses. Witchdoctors are mere opportunists, taking advantage of men with their false claims of hope. Jesus’ death and resurrection not only happened but was seen and chronicled. Today, over 2000 years later, we are His witnesses. 

With all this in mind, I pulled over on the way home and asked the crowd again about the whole ordeal. They assured me that the witchdoctor was coming, albeit late. So we drove on, knowing that a lot more would happen behind us. And I’m sure the rest of the story will be waiting upon our return. 

“God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2Tim.1:7)