Jesus' Victory Over the Powers of Darkness — Erlo Stegen

We thank you, Lord, for an opportunity to come together at your feet. For, Lord, you have promised that if we meet together in your name, you will be in our midst. And so, Lord, we ask you to take full charge of the service, that everything that will happen will come about as you have planned for this day.

And Lord, wouldn't you make it happen that all hypocrisy in our hearts would be removed and that you'd find our hearts receptive to you? So, Lord, speak to us. Speak and bless every single person. And make this day to be a truly great day.

That it won't just be great in the sense of what we see, but in the heavenly realms, something would truly happen in an invisible way, that which you do. So, Lord, rule over us in this service. Take full charge that everything would be under your control.

Amen. Amen. Many traditional healers and that have got converted. Witches and nyangas, etc. There's a load of stuff out there. We can't begin to mention all the details. Or loads. Pick up loads. If you had to count together the worth, it would be an enormous amount.

The Gospel’s Purpose: Salvation Rather Than Mere Social Reform

Now, I'll just ask Sipo to come forward and to introduce two of them. And maybe just to speak briefly. As they come forward, let's bow and pray. Take this service, Lord, and work mightily in each and every heart.

Thank you for what you've done and that you display to heaven and earth your victory and triumph on the cross. We ask you, Lord, to work in a wonderful way now, Lord. Amen. I'd like to introduce to you, firstly, Mr. Lutuli from Mapumulo.

He is the Deputy Nkosi of Nkosi Ngorbo here at Mapumulo. It's been a long time that we've known each other. He knows me from the days when I arrived at Mapumulo. Thank you so much for being in our midst today.

We've been discussing how, years ago, Reverend Kessel from the USA had come here to that American Mission, American Board Mission down in the valley there at Mapumulo. I don't know whether it was round about 1958 or 59 that I visited him.

I visited him, he asked me, tell me, what is the aim, what is your motive in preaching the Gospel? I looked in amazement because I thought, well, it's obvious that the Gospel is there to bring people to salvation.

He said, my aim is to make Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. I said, okay, I'm going to make Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.

He thought maybe I didn't quite understand the question in his accent, but then he said, his aim is to make Boy Scouts and Girl Guides there in that area. Well, I didn't know what to say then. But the building which they built for the Scout Hall is still there today, I hear from the Reverend.

He said, I'm going to make Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. I said, okay, I'm going to make Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. I said, okay, I'm going to make Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.

In the past he has brought me a huge box of wonderful mangoes and today he did it as well. You need to thank him on my behalf. So, if there are some names which we have forgotten to mention, please don't be hurt.

And where is Tante Waltraut-Müller?

And where is Tante Waltraut-Müller? Dahinten. Freust du dich oder nicht? Wenn du dich freust... Are you happy about the announcement she puts up her hands and says, yes, indeed, she is happy. She is the mother of...

She is the mother of Michael and she says, yes, she is happy about the announcement. So, we will ask him to introduce our guests. So, we will ask him to introduce our guests. Thank you very much for this opportunity to introduce our guests.

The one who is a bit older is Mr. Mkize from Taleni. He used to be a Sangoma. A well-known one at that. The other one is Mr. Mazibugo. And he is from Ngutu. And he is well-known in that area. And I will ask each one just to say a little bit.

They chatted with, we were discussing yesterday, and we were so amused. Because... Because they told us some of the darkest secrets which he had together with his demon. He said, as loads, even of vanfuls coming to get help would come.

Now... As the vanloads of people are coming, and somebody actually came to, as for a consultation to him, said, I want help. He said, no, we are on the way to Kwasi Zimbanto and you can join us. We are going to burn my witchcraft things.

And the man was so distressed, he said, what? Is this the end of the world? I greet you, all of you who are in this temple. Now I'm just going to say what I'm going to say very briefly. As Reverend Stegen said, I should speak shortly.

Maybe God will open an opportunity one day to say much more, but for the moment very brief. Now, you people of God, it's been two years that I was, two years ago I was in hospital, then to Gallifrey. It was there that I departed from this world.

A Sangoma’s Near-Death Testimony and Vision of Judgment

Now, this matter is very great and very deep, and I'm just briefly giving you a few highlights. When I experienced death and was there at heaven, Now, beforehand, I had been working in the cities like in Durban, Johannesburg, working in kitchens and that.

And when I experienced this death experience, I saw all these white people for whom I had previously worked. And the black people from whom I had stolen. The thing is, I had especially stolen tools, that is, work tools, which I used to like thieving.

Now, when I had this death experience, I found myself handing back these tools very quickly. And the monies which they owed me, they returned to me. I experienced it like a journey as I passed through things.

Now, I'm just making home for it. I saw a long queue of people, if I had to give an example of distance, like a line of people from here all the way to Greytown. Nobody spoke. They were dead silent. And I also was placed in that line and I too was silent.

And then I saw a white person just standing in one place. Or sitting in one place and he had a huge book. And he was sitting with a type of a jacket or a robe, some of it was black and some of it was white.

Now, when he spoke, his eyes flashed in such a way that I cannot describe to you. Now, he would have his book in front of him and somebody else would be standing before him.

He would read just from a page. And he would look at the page. He would read just from a page. And he would look at the page.

Now, he would read just from a page, and like lightning, a person who would be in front of him would just be rushed into hell, into this pit, and then the next one, page by page. And then the next one, standing there in the queue, then my time came to stand there, and I came, and I was going there.

I found myself on my knees, prostrate before him, saying, Lord, please forgive me for the sins which I have committed. Then he said to me, you need to believe. Have faith, and you go and tell people back on earth that the time for the end of this earth and the finality is upon us.

And so I was moved into another direction. And I saw the most beautiful, shining place. I went inside, and it was told me, this is your place, this is your house. It was the most beautiful home, and the greenest, loveliest grass.

And then two huge, beautiful sheep came eating on this grass. Now, I'm just looking at a making it short, I was a sangoma, or witch. Now, I had that experience, and after that, my life changed completely.

I gave up my witchcraft completely. I've turned my back and forsaken those ways. I want to serve the Lord. I am determined to believe, and I ask for your prayer support. And remember that you too, together with me, will stand before the judge.

If we do not believe, we will go to hell. I greet all of you, brethren. Now, because I stand before you, I've got rid of... I had experienced real slavery and bondage in this world. I had a very hard heart.

Deliverance from Witchcraft and a Miraculous Escape from Violence

But what happened, I don't know how it happened, God alone knows. This happened very recently, just in November. On the 21st of November, it was about quarter past or 20 past 8, some people came to shoot me at home.

I was with my father in the bedroom. My wife was in the kitchen. They came with my boy, and they asked where I was. They had come searching me out to shoot me. My father was sitting closer to the door, I was sitting on the bed, and they came with the intention of shooting.

And they started shooting. Somehow the bullets missed me, and one got into a fight with my father, and they continued shooting and outside. My father was struck by a bullet and died. As they fled, they saw me.

Now, I made various efforts, and I can't go into detail because of the length of all that happened. I tried with my own efforts to no avail. Now, I was one who used witchcraft potions very much. Now, when people say they go to the witch doctor, I know all about it, and the types of demons involved with it too.

Now, I had that witchcraft spirit in me too, so that I was able to prophetically tell somebody what was going to happen to them, and indeed, I was like a fortune teller. It would happen. I would see things, whether my eyes were open or closed, especially at night, I would see things very clearly before me.

But with all these things going on, I got to the point of utter exhaustion. Then, the Lord spoke to me and said, you know, if you have had so many lies spoken about you, or you've spoken lies about them on earth, I want you to come to me, God said.

I want you here. It was on an afternoon, something close to three. I experienced that I was just on the point of death, and my relatives helped me that by the next day, they could bring me here to the mission.

Now, I confessed my whole life. I confessed my whole life, the terrible things that had happened, other things as well, everything, and I just beg your praise that I would never go back to that life again.

Now, when God spoke to me, and he said to me, believe, I looked around, and it was during the day, I thought, well, what will happen if I truly believe in the Lord, what will happen to all these things and fetishes which I have?

Many people had lost things because of me, because the way that I behaved, it really was Satan. Now, even though I have left these things, it's only recent, and I'm still getting phone calls from people who want help with my, that old witchcraft ways, and I used to have certain medicines that I could name.

I was able to create, for people who had lost something, a certain concoction called Pai Pai, and I don't know, because I've lost so many things, I don't know what to do. I lost that witchcraft spirit.

I don't know today how I would concoct it again. I would tell my patients that they can go and check. Their lost property would indeed be found. And I would ask them to report back, and they would come back after a while, coming from the city or wherever, and they would tell me, it happened exactly as you said.

Now, these demonic manifestations of the Togoloshes and other things, let me tell you, they really do exist. Now, let me tell you as well, that this ability, this witchcraft ability to see into things and that is not something that you can learn.

It's something that you receive by this spirit that enters into you. If a person would come who would be ill, I would ask them, what is the germ or the illness that you are troubled by, and they would say, yes, I've got medical evidence.

Now, I would put different mooties and concoctions together, and they would both vomit and go to the toilet. But I don't know how I did it then, because I've now lost this witchcraft spirit, I wouldn't be able to put these things together again.

And so, I know those things and they were so real to me, but the Lord began to speak to me and said, look, I want you to come to me and I will be your protection. I thank you, and I ask you to please pray for me, that I wouldn't go aside and lose the track, and go off the track from the Lord.

Thank you. And the Lord has helped us that we were able to arrange to go and fetch the witchcraft fetishes and potions of these two gentlemen. And I saw these different things that I had never seen in my life before.

Things so dark, so wicked, I didn't want to touch it, and they explained some of the awful things that are inside. Nevertheless, God helped us. I was shocked when I came to Mr. Mkize and I saw these witchcraft medicines that I've never seen before.

Now, one can see that the almighty hand of God has gotten hold of him. It couldn't be anything else, and God just gripped him and said, you let go of these things. God is there. God is alive. It was just in closing, let me just say, it was once said that they should pray to Satan.

If they really wanted something badly, they would direct their prayer to Satan himself. And if they really wanted something really badly, they would get it asking directly from the devil. We need to believe in the Lord Jesus, knowing that we are faced up with demonic powers, and let us surrender everything to our Lord.

Thank you, and now they've asked you to pray for them. If you know how to really pray, please intercede for them. We all ask for that prayer, for we follow behind. God does his work. Thank you. We thank God for his work.

Spiritual Warfare and the Deliverance of the Demonized

The Bible tells us that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood. We wrestle against powers and principalities in the air. So blessed is that person who has been helped by the Lord Jesus to be set free from these things.

Many others who are also in the chains of Satan, and there are many sorts of things that are swallowed or given secretly for others to swallow in a witchcraft way. I remember others telling me how they would make use of the powers of darkness.

They would have their special witchcraft potions, and then bring it together with other things. One would go and pick up one person who would concoct these medicines, would pick up dog droppings and mix it into the concoction.

Now you might go to the witch doctor thinking that you're getting a reasonable potion. You don't know that there's dog droppings in, and you pay a lot for it. In fact, the problem is sometimes these things work.

You might find yourself really helped by these things, but together with it comes the bondage that brings you to a point of utter desperation like the one man said. Some would grind the human skulls as powder into the concoction.

Some of the ingredients are not even mentionable in company. And the people who get these things will smear them in different parts of the body, and then they find a hardness against the gospel and against prayer.

They don't know why. It's because of these powers of darkness. Now let me share with you a bit from Acts, and we find it in chapter 16. When Paul was preaching in Philippi, remember that Lydia got converted there, the first woman saved there from Europe.

Now while they were in that area, you'll find the story in Acts chapter 16. From verse 16. Now it happened as we went to prayer that a certain slave girl possessed with the spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling.

This girl followed Paul and us and cried out saying, these men are the servants of the Most High God who proclaim to us the way of salvation. And this she did for many days, but Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.

And he came out that very hour. And that girl with that spirit of divination or witchcraft had been hired. She was bought by these owners of hers who got a lot of profit, financial profit out of her. And when she saw Paul and them, she then loudly proclaimed, these are servants of the Most High who tell you how to find the way of salvation.

They proclaim to you the way of salvation. Daily she cried this out. She spoke the truth. In that Paul and them were indeed servants of the Most High and they were proclaiming the way of salvation. But Paul was greatly annoyed and in anger he rebuked it because they didn't need a demonic spirit to tell the truth.

When Paul rebuked the spirit and it came out of her, she lost the spirit of divination. And her abilities disappeared. She was no longer able to divine. Her bosses were infuriated. They were angered by the fact that now they would lose out financially.

And so they grabbed Paul and Silas. They stripped them of their clothing and they were brutally whipped in their naked state. And then they were taken. They took Paul and Silas and them before the authorities and accused them of the tumult and of a riot.

They said these men are teaching things against our local customs and against what we know traditionally as Romans. They were imprisoned. And the chief magistrate said take them to the top security deepest dungeon.

There was a place within a jail that would be reserved for the top security, those who would be the most dangerous criminals. And they instructed the prison keepers to watch out very carefully because they accused these men of being especially wicked.

And so they were thrown into the inner prison where it was damp and cold and it was dark. There was no sun to be seen. And they had their feet freed. They were fastened into the stocks, a way of securing the feet from below and above, holding them fast.

They were bleeding from their wounds all over their bodies. Late at night, at midnight, Paul struck up a song. And he and Silas sang along with such enthusiasm in this duet that the whole of the prison heard them.

There were hymns which were well known and they would sing these hymns. Even Jesus, remember at the Last Supper when he sang that hymn together with his disciples. Songs were known in the Bible and we even know the songs they sang.

For instance, from Psalm 113 to Psalm 118, these were psalms that were sung as hymns known off by heart. And if you get home, you go and take the Bible and read from Psalm 113 through to Psalm 118 and see that these are songs that can be sung.

These are the songs that Paul and Silas and them were singing. Just listen to the first song. Remember that they were wounded. These men were hurting. They were sore. They were in this cold, damp jail.

Let me read to you some of the words sung by these men. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Praise, O servants of the Lord. Praise the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore.

From the rising of the sun to its going down, the name of the Lord is to be praised. The Lord is high above all nations. His glory is above the heavens. Who is like the Lord our God who dwells on high?

Do you hear the song that they were singing? They were singing in their wounded, hurt state. We would be complaining and saying how terrible we feel. But here they sung in such a way that the very foundations of the jail shook.

No wonder that the whole jail shook. We don't need to be hit.

We don't need to be hit.

We are hurt just by a few words. And we are down and feeling low and depressed just because somebody has spoken badly about us, or there's been disinformation about us, some lies told about us, and we get so down and depressed.

No wonder the gospel doesn't go. And indeed it doesn't go. With many, instead of the gospel going forward, it's just dying out. It's only with some where it goes forward.

It's only with some where it goes forward.

Joy, Endurance, and the Power of Praise in Suffering

Now, just think of it. Paul and them stripped naked in their shame, publicly being beaten in such a brutal way. We would have complained and said this is unjust, this cannot happen. It was unjust, and indeed the next day the authorities sent message to the jail keepers that these men ought to be freed.

They should be freed. They should be freed. They should be freed. They should be freed.

They should be freed. They should be freed.

They should be freed.

So they had acted illegally. And that's what it's like when people listen to demonic spirits or listen to another gospel, they behave in any way. The law is nothing to them. But when they heard what had happened, they began to shiver in fear, perhaps needing their nappies to be changed.

They were so afraid of the law.

And they came and apologized and said we are sorry that we've acted against the law.

When demon spirits enter into you, you just do your own thing and you can disregard the law, but at the end, you will regret it. Paul and Silas had been singing in the jail. They had been singing in the jail so fervently that that very jail of dirt and foulness and filthy language became a place of heavenly singing.

They sang till the very foundations of the jail were shaken in a spectacular way. The chains and the stocks on Paul and Silas and them just broke and they were suddenly free. But not just them, but every prisoner, suddenly they were released from their chains.

And they asked what was happening. And the doors didn't just gently open, but they flew open violently. Upon which the jail keeper himself woke up. Now we don't know about the others, but the jail keeper, the head jail keeper himself had been asleep.

When he came to his senses, he saw suddenly all the prisoners were free. Now maybe he hadn't even felt the earthquake, maybe he and some of his colleagues, because it is like that. Sometimes God can work in a spectacular, miraculous way, but when people's hearts are hardened, they see and feel nothing.

Now the jail keeper himself had been asleep in a place where he could oversee the main jail door.

But he didn't sleep in his pyjamas, he was fully dressed.

And he was fully armed, he had a sword right there because that's how they would do it there. They would be ready for any rebellion within the jail and they would use their swords. They didn't have the rights that are spoken of today.

Human Rights, Abortion, and Sexual Morality

It's spoken of that children have rights, women have rights, there are these rights and those rights, but you find somehow that parents don't seem to have rights over their children. A woman has a right to abort, just by her own decision to abort.

That child within her that is so close to her heart, tear it into pieces. That is a legal right given by our government. The same with homosexual marriage.

The same with homosexual marriage.

If you do not serve God, you'll find yourself given over to all manner of perversion. Then it is that males are attracted to males in homosexuality, lesbianism. You'll find a girl bringing home another girl saying, this is my husband.

There are some countries where if a person had to speak these very things which I've just spoken, it would be regarded as hate speech and you'd be thrown into jail because these are said to be the rights to do these things.

You'll find the lesbian male side, the butch one coming with a deep voice acting in every male way, sitting there with folded legs. So parents are bewailing the condition of their children. They say they've brought into this world children, human beings, but they behave like animals.

But it is in contradiction to the rules of heaven.

If you do not serve God, you'll find yourself given over to all manner of perversion. If you do not serve God, you'll find yourself given over to all manner of perversion. If you do not serve God, you'll find yourself given over to all manner of perversion.

If you do not serve God, you'll find yourself given over to all manner of perversion. If you do not serve God, you'll find yourself given over to all manner of perversion.

If you do not serve God, you'll find yourself given over to all manner of perversion.

The Philippian Jailer and Fear of God

Paul and Silas were singing with all their hearts. This is the true freedom. One speaks about liberation, but these were people who were truly liberated with a heavenly liberty. Heaven could not remain silent at the wonderful thing happening with these men, and so the earth shook.

There was an earthquake. That is the power of Jesus. As he beheld his servants being mistreated in this way, he would not remain silent. Oh, the Lord Jesus is almighty and powerful. Previously, regarding their singing, they had sung with the power of heaven.

Maybe your heart is full of bitterness and revenge. Now this is the power that they had. Do you know this divine power? We don't know whether the jail keeper had witnessed the actual earthquake that was happening there, but the next thing we hear is that he noticed the doors opened.

Had he heard the singing of Paul and them? Here is the true gospel. Here is the true gospel. This is the genuine article. Away with your imitation and your counterfeit stuff. This is the power of God.

That which changes a life so that it's visible from head to toe, even in your clothing, in your face, everything about you shows the power of the gospel. People are being drawn to the world. People who are drawn to the world, how tragic.

That is the fulfillment of this word which says that they have the form of the gospel, but they deny the power thereof. The jail keeper, in seeing the doors opened and the prisoners freed, automatically knew he would be guilty because the jail keeper had the responsibility.

It would be capital punishment for him. The jail keeper then, knowing that it would be the death sentence for him, he took his sword to fall upon it to kill himself, to commit suicide. Then Paul, in a loud voice, said, stop, not one of us has run away.

They called for light. They brought lamps.

They brought lamps.

He came in with his lamp and when he saw Paul and Silas in them, he fell at their feet trembling, saying, sirs, look at this, the day before he treated them as dirt, now he's treating them as sirs, as lords.

What is a person of this world? One day he seems to be very powerful, the next day he's nothing. You're in deep trouble. You're the greatest fool if you fear man. Jesus said, do not fear man who has only the power to kill the body but not the soul, but I tell you whom to fear, the one who has power both to kill body and soul and cast into hell.

I tell you whom to fear, the one who has power both to kill body and soul and cast into hell. I tell you whom to fear, the one who has power both to kill body and soul and cast into hell.

Now, as he fell before them, before Paul and Silas, and saying, sirs, what must I do to be saved? Actually, it was a condition of confusion. He was bewildered by all that had happened, the shaking, the foundations, the doors open, the chains broken.

What does this man know about salvation and the way of salvation and to be saved? He didn't know what was happening. He was shaken to the core. How will I be helped and saved out of this situation? But Paul came with the gospel and he says, hey, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Then you'll be saved, you and your house, and he got the opportunity to speak to him about the way of salvation.

He gave himself to the Lord, completely surrendered. Now, you heard the one gentleman testifying earlier on in the service about how bullets were flying this way and that. His own father was shot dead and in his trembling state, he called upon the Lord Jesus.

He came to Jesus. Now, this jail keeper was in that state of confusion coming to the Lord. Then he called for water and he washed their wounds. He helped them. He clothed them. He brought them into his house and he prepared a feast for them.

It might have been one o 'clock in the morning or whatever, but here was a feast laid on for them. Now, they ate together and the jail keeper says, rejoiced greatly.

Many people get saved and they rejoice. It's the best time of their lives. After a year, after two years, after five years, they've lost the joy and they backslide. They go to where they came from. No joy anymore.

Why not? People didn't listen to me. I spoke to them. They didn't honor me. This, the children, this, that person, that. Are you backsliding? Have you lost the first love? Remember when you got saved.

Confession, Renunciation, and Burning Occult Books

And so this demon possessed man attacked them viciously. The demons wounded these men. They fled. And when the Christians heard this, Jews and Greeks, they came as believers, confessing their sins and their secret deeds.

And they brought their occult books and things and they burnt it publicly. Therein we find a secret that sins must be confessed. They must be dealt with. Don't just keep it as a secret to yourself. Confess it properly.

Otherwise, there's a chain connecting you to the devil in hell, which will pull you down there.

The early church grasped that secret and they came and spoke openly and confessed their sin because they said, if we don't do that, the devil will come and twist our arm. The devil will come and ride us.

What happened to them will happen to us as well. That's only one way. And that's the holy way, the pure way. So sanctify yourself and cleanse your life. Otherwise, you'll be the laughingstock of the devils and of hell.

A Call to Surrender Everything to Christ

Let's pray.

Lord Jesus, we thank you for hearing your pure undiluted gospel, void of deceit and deception. And seeing the power of the gospel where these men could sing in their wounded state so that the very foundations of jail were shaken.

This is the gospel we want, Lord. Nothing else. We don't want, Lord, to be those who have the form of godliness but deny the power thereof. Amen.

Amen. I surrender all. I surrender all. Have you surrendered all or not?

Or are you like that? We've sung just now, I surrender all. Have you really surrendered everything?

Were you singing the truth or were you singing a blatant lie? And then you were lying. And the devil is your father. I surrender all. Did you do it? Still you put everything on the altar. A girlfriend, a boyfriend, marriage, whatever it is in your widowhood.

Have you surrendered all? Or do you belong to those ancient Germans that were baptized? But as they said, the right hand we keep. Grudges, fighting, anger, bitterness, I keep that. And if you sing, I surrender it all.

And you haven't done it. I don't say that you are a half-baked Christian. I say you are a child of the devil. Staken is your father. You are a liar. He is the father of lies and the father of liars.

Alright. So let's go out and we'll go to the fire service.