On the mission front lines we often encounter our foe Satan and his angels undisguised—not hiding behind the masks they wear in the Western world.
This is the story of a young Muslim lady’s journey out of years of demonic slavery, and the first part is in her own words. Her descriptions and imagery may seem strange and baffling to Westerners, but her story of demonic possession is a common one here in West Africa. What is uncommon is the outcome. God remains faithful to the promise he made in the Great Commission: “Lo I am with you always . . .” —Fred Coker
My name is Mariam Diaby. My father is a karamoko [spirit doctor] and chief Imam in Dubreka. My entire family is Muslim, and I have practiced Islam all my life until now.
At the age of eight, as I walked to and from school each day with my friends, I began catching glimpses of money lying on the ground. I would point it out to my friends, but they never saw it. Then one afternoon I saw a 5,000 GF note on the ground and pointed it out to my friends. They couldn’t see it, but when I picked it up, it became visible to them, and they were very excited for me. I put the money in my bag and continued home.
That’s when the trouble began. I began to see things and suffered from severe headaches. When I told my father, he understood what was happening and began trying to treat me, but in vain. He sent me to other more powerful karamokos, but it was no use. A demon began stalking me everywhere I went. He was very jealous of me and did not want me to have dealings with anyone else. His visits intensified. I fell into trances for two or three hours at a time and would wake up with severe headaches. I was forced to quit school and became very isolated, able to talk only with my mother and close relatives without incurring the demon’s wrath. He would visit me every Thursday and Friday, and if I didn’t do what he wanted, he would attack me violently and leave me bruised. People would see me hit my head on the wall or anything else close by, but it wasn’t me; it was him moving me.
In vain, my parents offered all kinds of animal sacrifices. One day, my father took me to the most powerful karamoko in Guinea. The demon told the karamoko he would let me go if one of my close relatives would trade themselves to him as a ransom. This completely discouraged my family. My father became so ashamed of his helplessness that he banished my mother and me from our home, blaming us in an effort to salvage his honor. Abandoned by our entire family, my mother, my youngest sister and I moved to Fria.
In Fria, my mother had to beg for our food, and many days we went hungry. In desperation, I turned to my demon for help. He gave me a 10,000 GF bill and told me that anytime I needed money, I should just touch it and say the amount I needed, and it would appear. With the money I got this way, I was able to support my mother and younger sister.
But still I was isolated. The jealous demon would take control of me unexpectedly when I was with other people to scare them away, especially if they were young men, and I quickly lost every friend I tried to make. I begged him to stop attacking me, and he told me he would stop only if I married him. I accepted and made a covenant with him. He gave me a nose ring and a gold wedding ring, and he began to visit me more frequently than ever before. I became fearful for my life and began desperately looking for help, not caring where it might come from.
One day, I heard someone tell about a Christian young man named Daniel who had prayed for an old man who was sick, and the man was healed. My heart leapt within me, and I began to search for Daniel. Oh, how desperate I was to find him! I began asking every young man I met if he was a Christian. When my demon fiancée learned what I was doing, he attacked me more frequently and violently. After one attack, I prayed my first prayer: “God, if You exist, guide me to the place I can be cured.”
Finally, someone was able to direct me to the church Daniel attended. It was only a stone’s throw from our house! I went there immediately, but I could not bring myself to go in. How could I expect them to rid me of this powerful demon?
But God guided my path to cross Daniel’s on the road one day. Immediately, I noticed something different about him. Hardly daring to hope, I asked him the question I had asked so many other young men: “Are you a Christian?”
“Yes,” he said, “I am a member of the Seventh-day Adventist church across the road. My name is Daniel.” Interrupting him before he could say another word, I poured out my predicament. Daniel promised to talk to the leaders of the church group to see what they could do for me.
Fred Coker
During prayer meeting that week, Daniel shared about Mariam’s struggle. “She wants the church to pray for her,” he said.
The leader of our group, Pastor Niouma Leno, gathered some leaders to make contact with Mariam and her family on Sabbath evening. Unfortunately, Daniel became frightened about the spiritual battle ahead. “Elder brother,” he said to Bernard, “please talk to the pastor. I don’t want to discourage him, but I am very afraid of this sort of thing.”
Bernard encouraged him and said, “Let’s go. The Lord will be with us.” Daniel finally agreed to go with us.
Upon our arrival, Daniel introduced us to Mariam and her mother. After we got acquainted, I began to ask Mariam hard questions about her relationship with the demon. Our plan wasn’t to have the prayer for her deliverance that night, but to spend a few days in fasting and prayer to get ready for the battle. But God had a different plan in mind for the freeing of his daughter.
Pastor Niouma took over the questioning and asked, “What is the name of the demon?”
“Since we have been together, he has never told me his name,” Mariam answered.
“Your nose ring—how did you get it? Did the demon give it to you?”
“Yes, and he has given me all the money I want,” she added.
As we asked more questions, we suddenly felt a dark presence, and in the blink of an eye, Mariam’s head was slammed to the ground several times. Moved by this sudden violence, we began to pray. As we prayed, the pastor felt impressed to continue asking Mariam questions. “What happened to you?” He asked.
“When you started asking me questions, I heard the demon outside screaming, pleading with me not to reveal our secret,” Mariam said. “As I was talking to you, he returned with force demanding I return his ring and the money he had given me. He said, ‘It is over between you and me, because the people you are associating with will not allow me to continue with you.’ And then he said to me, ‘My name is Jeen Musa (meaning Musa the demon—Jeen is the Muslim term for spirit being or genie). Tell them to stop tormenting me.’
We praised the Lord together. But Jesus had not yet completed His work. Again, we felt the evil presence, this time more powerfully, and Mariam fell into a trance. Her mother could no longer stand it and ran out of the house. We redoubled our efforts in prayer. When Mariam returned to consciousness, I asked, “What happened to you, Mariam?”
“When you were praying,” she said, “he came back with another demon, but they could not enter the house. The other demon said that the power inside the house was too great, and he could not help. I have never seen my demon so angry. He is gone.”
“How are you feeling now, sister Mariam?” I asked.
“I cannot express the way I am feeling right now. I feel like a heavy load has been taken from me. I have joy in my heart, and I believe I am truly liberated!” To my amazement, Mariam went into her room and took out every charm and potion the spirit doctors had given her. She smashed the bottles and burned the rest. Then she burst into tears, “I am free! I am free! Jesus has healed me!”
The pastor and three church members spent the night at Mariam’s house to watch and pray and to strengthen and reassure her of Christ’s deliverance.
The next day, I went to visit Mariam, and I asked how she had slept.
“I had a dream last night,” she said. “Someone came to the window and asked, ‘What is your name?’ I replied that I didn’t know. Immediately I saw the pastor and the other members praying around me. The pastor raised his hand and said, ‘In the name of Jesus,’ and immediately fire shot from his hand and burned the man at the window, who ran away wailing. When I woke up, I tried to pray the way I heard you all praying.
“At 9 this morning, an old karamoko came by with some spirit medicine for me. When he came into our house, he began to shout, ‘Hey! What’s in here? There is something in this house!’ I invited him to sit down, but he just shouted, ‘No! I will not sit down!’ He was trembling and muttering that his skin was burning. ‘I won’t come back to your house ever again!” he finally shouted, and he left.”
I asked Mariam what advice she would give to someone in demonic slavery as she had been. She replied, “To all who find themselves in similar situations, I would say to seek Jesus, for He alone can free you from all evil power. What my father and the other karamokos could not do for me in 17 years, Jesus did for me last night.” She added, “I want to live the rest of my life for Him. Please keep praying for me because I want to baptized and share my testimony with those who will listen. I know there are more battles ahead. I am aware of the persecution that awaits me from my family. But the Jesus who has delivered me from demons will deliver me from my persecutors.”
Mariam is now taking Bible studies and serving as a volunteer deaconess. She helps clean the church and get it ready for Sabbath worship every Friday. She has joined the choir, and she loves singing Christian songs. One Sabbath last September, AFM President Conrad Vine and Marc Coleman, AFM’s director of field operations, were present at the Fria Church when Mariam’s Muslim mother stood up and thanked the church for its role in her daughter’s healing.
Please keep Mariam in your prayers as she begins her new life with Christ.
