Since 2003, Anne Millimouno has known the Seventh-day Adventist Church through her father, one of the first baptized members of the Adventist Church in our city.

At that time, Anne and her brothers were fierce opponents of the Adventist movement. Her father, in the quest of winning them to his new faith, enrolled them in the Adventist school in 2006, where he was working as a teacher. Anne, her siblings and their mother, a Protestant Evangelical, were hostile to everything that concerned the Adventist church. Anne’s father got discouraged and gave up because of his children’s unbelief and their hostility toward the church. Under these conditions, the house was divided: Anne’s father, an Adventist, versus the rest of the family. This division created chaos as the morning and evening prayers ceased and everyone did what seemed good to them. This was the mistake that almost cost Anne her life. What follows is her account.

“It was a September evening in 2005. My younger sister and I were watching birds in our rice field at around 6:00 pm. As the birds were returning to their hiding places, we were preparing to return home. As we did so, I told my sister to wait on the road. I needed to collect some things my father had asked for and gather some clothes I had laundered in the early part of the day. As I was walking down to the bank of the stream, just at the edge of the swamp, I suddenly felt a violent headache. In this malaise, I saw a pygmy sneaking in front of me, going left to right without saying a single word. In order not to frighten my younger sister, I decided not to raise any alarm.

“An hour later, as we were approaching town, the same pygmy appeared to me again without a single word. Again, I did not say anything to my young sister. I did not want her to be frightened. It was just the two of us going home. That night, that pygmy appeared to me in my dream. This time, he was able to talk to me, and I understood that he was a demon. He proposed a relationship with me, and I accepted because of the promises he made. In my second dream, he gave me money and a list of things I should buy in the market. In the third dream, he took me to many luxurious places and promised to make me happier if I would take this relationship seriously. He gave two conditions: I must never get married because I would dedicate my life to him only, and I must withdraw from all that concerns God.

“He told me that if I were to break these conditions, he would kill me. I accepted both conditions without any argument simply because of the favors I was getting from people to whom he directed me, the physical cash I was receiving from him and the beautiful places in the underworld he showed me.
“That was the beginning of a year’s long involvement that took over every part of my life, from forsaking God and no longer attending church, to the demon’s intricate involvement in my education, social life and job search. I turned down marriage proposals as I was instructed to do. I also got involved with people the demon suggested.

“The beginning of my deliverance came when, desperate to find a job after graduating from the university, I returned to Fria and applied for a position at the Adventist school. The demon was not happy because with this job, I would have devotions every morning and go to church. I knew I got the job with the Adventists because it was God’s time for me to separate from this evil one. They transferred me to Tanènè where the AFM evangelists had started a small grade school. I was asked to be the kindergarten teacher. I stayed with my uncle Bernard, a very prayerful evangelist. We had family worship in the morning and in the evening. I went to Sabbath worship every weekend. I did my best to attend all worship activities. I felt I had no choice. My demon was not happy and began to physically attack me with the intention of killing me.

“It was the most miserable time of my life. I started avoiding people. After three months, the Adventist Church organized an evangelistic campaign that lasted for two weeks. During this service, Pastor Leno organized a prayer session for all those who were plagued with problems. I presented myself and explained my case. Suddenly, the spirit came and caught me, violently telling me not to attend this deliverance prayer time. That day, the pastor and his group prayed a prayer of deliverance for all who were present, including me.

“I accepted Jesus into my life and got baptized. It was a great surprise to my entire family and a very happy moment for my father. My mother and my siblings were not happy, but the day of my baptism, I felt an immense peace in my life. Christ had won and the devil fled. But the demon came back because of a lack of commitment on my part. I reverted to the same mistakes of my past, only this time I was betrothed to one of the evangelists in Tanènè. I received terrible threats from the demon. He wanted me to break off the engagement or die.

“Two months before our wedding, I could not sleep as the demon continued to influence my life. I even began to hate my fiancé. People were unaware of everything that was happening, but they saw that I was troubled. I cried. I saw everything around me as bad. Anytime I decided to go and talk to Pastor Leno about it, the spirits forbade me and threatened to kill me. One day, I could not stand it anymore, took courage and fled to the refuge of Pastor Leno’s house. With prayers and fasting, my fiancé and the pastor were able to control the situation by giving everything to God. My fiancé and I married on June 30, 2019.

“One Sabbath afternoon three weeks later, Pastor Leno began to ask me questions about my spiritual life, and I suddenly became possessed. I was thrown violently to the ground. I was prevented from speaking. My tongue was tangled and my jaw was locked. I could not say anything but only groan. The demon was there that day to kill me, but Jesus and His angels were there to stop him. As the pastor, his wife and my husband prayed for me, the spirits departed.

“To totally separate me from the demon, I took the pastor to my parent’s house. There I took out every article of clothing and other gift that linked me to the demon. Everything I could remember that was from him was taken out and burnt to ashes, anything that might be a port of entry for the demon. Afterward, I felt completely liberated and gave thanks to God.

Today, I am happily living with my husband and I feel an inner peace that passes all understanding. Praise be to God!”

Presently, Sister Anne is having Bible studies with my wife on how to connect with Christ. They pray and fast every Wednesday. Please keep Anne, her husband and all those who are troubled by demons in your prayers.

• Twitter