“Welcome to Villa Corona!”

Sometimes, when serving God, you will find your faith tested.   May I share with you one of my experiences of personal testing?   A few years ago, I traveled to the village of Villa Corona in Jalisco, Mexico south of Guadalajara, to help a young pastor and his fledgling church in the understanding and development of prayer ministries within the church, including prayerwalking.

The first night with the church, I wanted to show my love for them and earn their favor, so with the help of the pastor we located the local version of ‘KFC’ so that I could feed the entire church a chicken dinner. (This was actually an old barn on the outskirts of the village that put together fried chicken and all the trimmings).

We met in the huge back yard of the parsonage for the meal and my first teaching session.  When I had finished sharing with the folks, I got myself a cup of coffee and sat to begin building relationships. I had only been seated a moment or two when some unseen force literally kicked my chair out from under me.  I still do not know if anyone else heard the words I heard as I hit the ground, “Welcome to Villa Corona, white boy!”, but I heard them clearly, and I heard them guttural.

The next day I contacted an intestinal disorder (diarrhea) and I had it until I was one day back at home the next week.  I had realized I did not feel sick, and I had traveled internationally many times to third world countries.  I know how to take care of myself, and what to eat and what not to eat; in fact I usually do a partial fast while traveling (for spiritual reasons, mostly), and drink bottled water only.  So, during my last attack of this, I said out loud: “If this is the enemy, stop it, in Jesus Name!”    I had no further problems.

On Monday while in Villa Corona, Pastor Jessie and I prayerwalked together throughout the village. The oppression felt heavy and dark.  The spirit of fear was working overtime, but I still felt the peace of the LORD knowing I had many, many prayer warriors back home praying this experience.

As we walked and prayed, many villagers engaged us with questions for Pastor Jessie. (I assumed much of the curiosity was surrounding the fact that I was probably the only white man in the village, and at 6’2″, it’s hard to blend in).  We spoke with one man, Luis by name.  He looked in his late sixties.  He told Jessie of his trouble with nightmares two or three times each night, and hearing noises in his home which were unexplainable. He suffered from mental and physical torture by unseen spirits. Numerous times in a day, something, which he never saw, would strike a blow to his stomach and knock the wind out of him (often knocking him to his knees).    He said that his wife had left him over 20 years before and took their children to the U.S.  Both she, her sister, and their mother, were practicing witches.  His wife had spoken a curse on him the day she left, saying that he would be poor all the days of his life.    He said that he had failed in everything he had tried to make a good living since then.  He also stated that the voices of his ex-mother-in-law, and his ex-sister-in-law, had followed him all these years, telling him that he’s no good. They had badgered him everywhere he would go, shouting things like: “Why are you taking us here?” and “I told you, that you were no good!”  Of course, Pastor Jessie translated, as I do not know Spanish, and Luis knew no English. When Jessie had told him what we were doing, Luis asked if I could rid him of all these things, and I said, “Jesus can!” He said, “They say they are not afraid of Jesus.”  I said, “They are liars.   They do fear Jesus!  Jesus is stronger and they know it!”

Luis lead us into his humble home for prayer. The first thing I noticed was a loaded, cocked shotgun propped in a broken-down wooden chair by the door we had just entered.   To my relief, he took us into another room to pray.   We talked some more and I received permission from Luis to pray.  (I must say, that in all my years in ministry, I have never felt more pumped or excited about what I sensed was about to take place in the spiritual realm).

I began by praising our LORD Jesus, moving toward the breaking of all curses, hexes, or vows ever spoken or made against Luis, in the name of Jesus Christ.  I did this in a slow methodical manner as I followed notes I had taken during our conversation; not wanting to miss or forget anything needed.

It was as I began to direct evil spirits to leave Luis immediately, never to return again, that things began to happen quickly.  Luis screamed and grabbed his lower abdomen and began to pull and tear at himself, as though trying to pull something out from his stomach.    He bent over in near convulsions then quickly ran out the back door of his home. (Remember, Luis could not understand English, and Pastor Jessie was not translating my prayers!)

Pastor Jessie looked at me wide-eyed and said loudly, “He’s got a demon!” We continued praying in Luis’ absence for his complete release from evil. In about five minutes he returned with a huge smile on his face and said to Jessie, “They’re gone!” We were then able to secure his salvation. Over twenty years of bondage broken in one afternoon.   Praise God!