“His wife will never have a baby as long as he doesn’t go to present her to the fetish,” said Moïse’s father. “But I won’t tell him that. He says he is a Christian now and that his God his more powerful than the fetish. I want to see if this is true.”

Moïse is a young church member in the village church of Koutié. In his clan, each person is dedicated to a very strong and demanding fetish. Every major decision in life has to first pass before the fetish. But since Moïse had become a Christian, he did not present his girlfriend to the fetish before taking her as his wife, nor did he take her there when she was pregnant for the first time. After her second miscarriage, an old lady pointed out to him that he was neglecting his spiritual duties, and this was the reason his wife kept losing the babies. Moïse realize he was in a spiritual battle, so he asked the church to fast and pray for his wife.

She became pregnant a third time, but three months later she was bitten by a venomous snake. Church members treated her with natural remedies and kept praying. Everybody was happy when she reached full term, but when the labor started, the battle flared up again. Moïse took her to the nearest health center, but the nurses there immediately saw that it would be a difficult delivery and beyond their capabilities. He took her into town and went from hospital to hospital, but each one sent them away. Finally, a doctor at a private clinic said he would be able to do the delivery. However, as the labor progressed, he finally had to admit defeat as well. Every time the baby’s head would begin to crown, it would immediately go back in. He recommended that Moïse take his wife to a big hospital 30 miles north for a C-section. But Moïse didn’t have the money. All he could do was continue to pray with the church members who had accompanied them. Then, all of a sudden, the baby girl was born, and everybody, including the doctor, praised God. But the battle was not over. For three days, the baby wouldn’t eat, and it took more fervent prayer to get her to nurse.

Today, Julienne is a cute little girl. Unfortunately, due to the long labor and delivery, she seems to have suffered some brain damage. She didn’t walk until she was two years old, and she is generally delayed in her development. This is an extra challenge for her parents. In this society, there is little to no knowledge about the scientific reasons for such conditions, and her incapability to do certain things is either attributed to the fetish being angry at her father or to her simply being stupid.

Moïse is a regular participant in our leadership training program. What he is learning there helps him sort out experiences like this and understand even better the dynamics of the great controversy. He is still very young, but he is already taking a leadership role in the Koutié church. Please pray for him and his little family that they will be shining examples in their community and that their lives will prove to those around them that God is indeed
all-powerful.

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