11/20/10: Out of Darkness into His Marvelous Light

Out of Darkness into His Marvelous Light

A Conversion Story From Congo


kasongo performing baptisms in Congo.

Lusawu recently baptized Brigite, a young woman from the Mushima village about 15 miles south of our Kazamba Mission, and shares her story. Brigite is married to Lemba who was baptized with her. She is an orphan, and even though there are many other members of her family who could help her, her only support is her husband. Lemba and Brigite were poorer than the other people in their village because she was in poor health and unable to raise a garden. Every evening she would complain to her husband about her health. Even though she did not feel well her husband encouraged her to work as did the other women in the village.

For years, Brigite believed that every evening the spirit of her deceased mother would come to her and whisper words of hope and encouragement. Through the years, her mental state was affected, and she was not only sick physically but also mentally and emotionally. Everyone pitied her.

After many years, her spirit visitation became mysteriously visible. A great light would surround her and an audible voice would be heard which put her into an ecstatic hypnotic state. During her trance, she learned songs which she would sing while coming back to her normal self. At first her husband could not understand the voice but eventually was able to and learned some things which he used to embellish the approaching scene. The hypnotic state opened to her the ability to see secret situations. A very real relationship existed between her and the spirit world, and she spent all her nights in the cemetery. She did not eat the foods that the other villagers ate, and during the day she was locked in her room. Their home became something of a tourist attraction because of all these strange occurrences which attracted many people and sometimes whole villages.

Another spirit medium had to authorize her to begin to work as a spirit medium. This was done publicly by the other medium spitting kola nut masticated with palm wine onto her face. Then she started her work as a spirit medium. She even obtained government authorization and was invited to appear in several different locations. She became much respected in Mushima, and the entire village was convinced that the dead do exist and can interact with living people.

Brother Augustin, our Kazamba Bible worker who lived in a neighboring village, heard of the situation in Mushima and decided to visit that village twice a week. He wanted to stop the spread of this dangerous ignorance and share the truth about the dead. At first he gave them the Kikongo Bible Study guides. He had opportunity to talk first with the youth and then later to all the people about study guide number 17, “Where Are the Dead?” Because he preached publicly on 1 Timothy 4:1, he was attacked by the family of Brigite. He was able to clearly show them that these spirit visitations were the familiar spirits that the Bible talks about in Leviticus 20:27, Deuteronomy 18:10-12 and Revelation 22:15. Step by step, he succeeded in convincing the people that the only way to salvation is to be ready to meet Jesus Christ when He comes back the second time (John 14:3) and that the Lord prevents us from speaking to the dead. In short, the Lord used Brother Augustin to convince over one fourth of the village of the Bible truth about the dead.

Today Brigite is a baptized Seventh-day Adventist; and 19 others, including her husband, were baptized on the same day. There are 25 more precious souls preparing for baptism. All this was done through the labor of one Bible worker. Praise the Lord!


By Celestin Kasongo. Donations for the work in Congo can be sent to Mission Projects International, PO Box 59656, Renton, WA 98058.