Miracles in the Jungle

When they set the plate before me filled with jungle rat, boiled plantains and a side of grubs, I knew I had finally arrived in Nueva Era. We had come for the church anniversary. The trip was difficult, two days of travel, but the last four hours were the worst. We had traveled up a small jungle stream full of fallen trees and sharp curves while ducking under thorny vines and wasp’s nests. The pastor of Nueva Era had met us at the mouth of the stream to guide us, I knew we were in for an adventure when I saw him carrying a chainsaw and machete to help clear the way. The stream had many forks and alternate routes and without our guide we would have never had made it to Nueva Era.

The worldview of the Shawi people is very different than that of us North Americans. They live in an animistic culture. The shaman is the center of their spiritual world. If they are sick, they visit the shaman, if they need guidance, they visit the shaman and if they want someone killed, they visit the shaman. The shaman has the power to kill and it is very real. They never would doubt the existence of the spiritual world because they live with it everyday.

The Church in Nueva Era

How does the shaman kill? If you pay him to kill someone, the cost is often a bull, then he will enter into a spiritual trance. He then enters the spiritual world where he finds the spirit of the one he wants to kill and does “damage” to their soul. Without fail within two to three days that person becomes incurably sick and dies.

Baptisms in the creek

If this sounds crazy, I agree. But the good news is that many of the Shawi now believe that there is one Creator God and He is all powerful. This is changing their worldview. In Nueva Era they pray to God for healing as opposed to seeking the shaman. Last time I visited we prayed for a one-month old baby. The dad told us that the baby was not eating and was so sick it wouldn’t cry. My first response was to tell him they need to walk three hours to the nearest health outpost for the below average treatment they can receive there. But instead the elders and pastors of the church gathered together and we all prayed for the baby. The baby was healed. I, in my weakness, doubted and upon returning this time I asked the man how his baby was doing. “100 percent healthy,” he replied. I was surprised. Lord help my unbelief. Another man we had prayed for had bloodshot eyes and terrible headaches such that he could not sleep at night. Again I was surprised to find he had received healing. But the craziest thing was the man who brought his blind wife to the anniversary. They had walked from a nearby village because they heard that people could be healed in Nueva Era. She had slowly been going blind and was to the point where she could only see a few feet. We prayed for her at the evening service and the next morning when she woke up her vision was completely normal. 

Some of my friends from Nueva Era

After service one evening I sat and talked to the leader of Nueva Era. He looked around the church and began to tell me stories. People had come from 8 different communities for the anniversary, all walking. Some where 2 or 4 or 6 hours walk, but one community was a day and half walk away. He also told me about their stories, that man in the red shirt was sick and God healed him, that man in the corner had a sick child that was healed and his entire family are now believers. On and on he went and I began to realize that God’s healing was common place in Nueva Era but as a result God’s glory is extending into unreached communities. You see, when people are healed they believe in God and receive Christ. It is showing that God is real and more powerful then the shamans.

And the shamans are not happy about the Christians of Nueva Era. They are trying to kill them but upon entering the spiritual realm they say that the souls of the Christians are surrounded by fire and they can not touch them. They openly admit that the God of the Christians is more powerful then the spirits they serve. Suddenly Romans 8:31 has new meaning: If God is for us, who can be against us?

Rainbow over the nearby mountains

Going to Nueva Era reminded me of James 5.
Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.  

God is healing people to show his power and the people are responding. During my time in Nueva Era 12 people came to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.