Learning to Fight the Spirits BURKINA FASO
By Mark J.H. Klassen “I’d never done an exorcism before,” admitted Phil Bergen, long-term worker in Burkina Faso. But there he was, in a small hut, called in by the chief of the village and his son, to help the chief’s teenage granddaughter who had recently been attacked by evil spirits at school. The incident had thrown the community into an uproar and it was up to the chief to sort this out. When the chief said, “Come! My granddaughter is sick,” Phil obeyed without hesitation. It was an unprecedented move by the chief, to invite a Christian into this kind of crisis. But this was the same chief who, twenty years earlier, had given Phil and his wife, Carol, permission to live in his village and translate the Bible into his language, Nanerige. Over the years, the two men had become good friends despite their differences on matters of faith. Phil felt completely unprepared for a power encounter with the spirits. In reality, he was afraid, so he prayed for peace of mind. And he began to recall what he had learned from a man named Madou. Madou was from a neighboring tribe and a mature leader in the church. He was sent to help the Bergens plant a church among the Nanerige. After many years of faithful labor in Bible translation, the Bergens had seen many people, including village leadership, respond positively to the story of Scripture in their own language. But very few Nanerige people had chosen to break fellowship with the spirits so that they could align themselves with Christ. For the Church to be truly born among the Nanerige, the people needed modeling from a local believer. “Madou was among the first to follow Jesus in his tribe,” Phil explained. “And he was living proof to these people that someone could follow Christ and not be killed by the spirits.” But Phil was also very aware that he had a lot to learn personally from his new ministry partner. “Madou’s powerfilled life with Christ was one that the Nanerige people could understand and imitate. Now it was my turn.” 6 | witness
When Madou arrived to help them, the Bergens expected him to follow the same strategy that they had been following for years. But Madou said, “First, I need to fast and pray, and ask God what to do.” Phil was impressed with Madou’s response, but admits that he was bewildered when the seasoned leader came back to him and said, “God wants me to grow rice.” Phil knew that Taiwanese experts had invested millions of dollars over the past twenty years to grow rice in the area, but the project had failed miserably, and the foreigners had gone home. However, Madou had discovered a different story. He learned that local herdsmen, wanting the land for grazing their cattle, had put a curse on the land so that the spirits caused the crops to fail. It made sense to Madou that God wanted to show his authority over the land, and over the spirits. “Now people won’t just hear the Word of God,” Madou thought, “they will see it at work in their fields.” So Phil and Madou prayed together, and then Madou boldly asked the local government for land. Madou trusted Christ, planted rice, and his crops flourished. Everyone asked, “How can this be?” “Jesus,” he said simply. “The King I serve has authority over the spirits.” When other farmers saw that the curse had been broken, they began to return to the fields. Soon, the rice harvests were so plentiful that the farmers could not keep up. Phil observed, “Madou’s work showed everyone that Christ’s salvation meant more than just forgiveness, it meant a power-filled life.” “I was converted,” Phil said. “I was converted to believing that Christ introduces himself to people through a demonstration of power, by showing his authority over the spirits.” Phil knew that, in addition to exorcising the rice fields, Madou had been involved in numerous power encounters
