The following is an excerpt (taken with permission) from the book "Wind of the Son" by Dr. Dow F. Robinson.
Dow and his wife Lois were well-trained university graduates with backgrounds in linguistics and theology when they arrived in Mexico in 1955. Nothing had prepared them, though, for the raw power of God that was about to sweep through the Aztec villages on the Wind of the Son.
From Chapter Eight
THE CONFRONTATION
In the spring of 1972, Elpidio came rushing onto our patio, obviously frustrated, agitated and really desperate. He almost yelled at me, "My boy's in the midst of one of those attacks! He's been thrashing on the floor for almost three days now. Help me! Help me!" That meant an epilepsy-type convulsion, fainting, and slow death-so common to Aztec children. Then he shoved a book in my face, the Gospel of Mark that we had recently distributed, our first attempt in communicating God's Word in Aztec. He held his finger in a certain page and opened the booklet to show me. There I saw the face and person of Jesus of Nazareth, the Sunday School drawing so many of you have seen. Jesus stands with one eye on the boy thrashing on the ground, but eyeing His disciples in their lack of faith. I looked from the picture to Elpidio’s face.
“Can you cast out a demon?” he demanded. I was speechless. I did not know how to respond. I certainly had heard about such things (in missionary biographies), but that was hardly my background in training and experience. He continued, “I want you to come to the house. We’ll have a meal together and then you can drive out the unclean thing so my boy will live.” Now Elpidio had heard that other families had invited us to share the Word of God in their homes. And he felt that the power of the Word of God was just what he needed within his household. And he wanted God to heal his boy who had suffered this shaking for at least five (not three) days now. His wife had already agreed to the visit. So Sebastian and I first entertained Elpidio-Aztec style-with sweet coffee and sweet bread. And we assured him that we would hike to the house that evening (about one hour). Elpidio went home somewhat heartened. But I still had no idea what I should do. And in regard to demons, Sebastian was no help at this point either.
THE HAWK GOT THERE FIRST
We hiked over to Elpidio’s house late that afternoon. The family anticipated, with great pleasure, sharing their one chicken in a Aztec soup-dinner (boiled and Chile-saturated). When we entered the home, the wife began apologizing that a hawk had carried off their only chicken about four hours ago. She was mortified-all they had to share with us was sweet bread and sweet coffee. Aztecs make this coffee drink from one gallon hot water, one tablespoon of ground coffee and almost two pounds of raw, brown sugar. It’s like diluted, coffee-flavored pancake syrup. Now add to that typical Mexican sweet bread-this is NOT the appropriate meal for a person with “low blood sugar.” We prayed over the meal-fervently.
As we shared the bread together, I became aware of Elpidio’s child lying on the ground in the corner under a blanket. His whole body quivered, at times vigorously. Elpidio reminded us that we had come to pray for his boy. But at this point, several neighbors came to visit. So Elpidio’s wife served them coffee and sweet bread. I was trying to begin the Bible study that Elpidio requested, “Explain John 3 to us,” he had mentioned to me when we arrived. And before I could start, several more neighbors arrived. They had to shake every person’s hand (Aztec politness) and be served coffee and sweet bread (Aztec etiquette). I finally got started and engaged the teaching of John 3 for about 20 minutes.
THE NEIGHBORS JOIN US
Then some more neighbors joined us (handshakes, coffee and bread for all the new ones). I repeated the 20-minute teaching that I had just completed. And more people arrived. At that point, I said to Elpidio, “I didn’t realize you wanted a neighborhood meeting this evening. I thought we would just pray with you and your boy.” He responded aggressively, “The people know that the Power of the Word of God is here to heal. And they want to receive it.” His focus and faith left me wondering. Then the scene repeated itself five times until some 45 people from Elpidio’s clan sat wall-to-wall on two-by-four’s for benches.
With each new arrival, I repeated the teaching from John 3. At that point, an elderly Aztec lady stood up and addressed the gathering. Since she was the oldest living Aztec in the home, she had the “right-of-the-word”. She asserted, “We must pay attention to what our brother says. We all need to be born from above so we can meet Jesus when He comes.” By reputation, this lady earned her living as a local shaman. Add to that her age-the eldest person present - and this roomful of Aztecs interpreted her word as a directive.
THE COMMITMENT
My amazement increased. I thought, “Has she changed sides? Is she for real? I wonder what I’m supposed to do now.” Then I remembered a comment from a fellow translator, “When in doubt, get aggressive in prayer!” I reviewed the teaching again, then I outlined that most ancient of prayers. “Most honorable and exalted High-God, please be kindly disposed towards us because we are all miserable sinners in Your sight. Please extend Your honorable and gracious mercy over us. I personally yield to Jesus’ lordship in my life. Please forgive my sins and make me Your own child.” Then I asked them if they wanted to pray this way. They all agreed. So we prayed together, phrase by phrase, in unison, with full voice.”
THE CHALLENGE
Immediately, Elpidio reminded me of three things: First, to pray for his boy; second, of the book of Mark we had just finished translating and publishing; and third, the color picture in Mark (9:14-29) where Jesus rebukes the unclean spirit afflicting this boy. And he asked again, “Can you drive out this unclean spirit the way Jesus did?” I felt caught—confronted by the unyielding reality of God’s Word. Would I risk rebuking an evil spirit according to the Word of God? Or would I ignore that issue and just pray for his illness? The very Word of God that we had translated and published—with color pictures—now demanded a decision from me.
SHOWDOWN!
I addressed several of the men whom Sebastian had already previously led to the Lord. “Brothers,” I said, “would you please go over and pray for Elpidio’s boy?”
“Certainly,” they responded, “after your presence has preceded us.” (A polite Aztec way of saying, “After you!”). Then Lois knelt by her two-by-four to pray for me! I went over and stood by the young man, still thrashing incessantly, and said: “In the name of Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, we rebuke you Satan, and command you to come out of this boy and stop afflicting him…NOW!” In the midst of the stunned silence, we saw and heard that spirit-presence leave the boy and exit the house with a rustling through the dry bamboo stalks that comprise the house wall. Several of us immediately laid hands on the lad for God’s healing Presence in his body and spirit. And in front of us all, the boy stopped shaking, color returned to his face, he got up, walked around, talked freely, and asked his mother for food.”
THE PROOF OF JESUS’ RESURRECTION
Sebastian was quite calm about the whole experience. “After all,” he said, “that is what God’s Word says.” I felt like I had just crossed a great divide. Personally, I had moved from rejoicing at the history of Jesus’ work on earth into a place of a current experience of His power on earth today. The personal Presence of God came into that house that evening. Jesus demonstrated to us all, believers or pre-Christians alike, that He is Lord over the spirit world. For Sebastian and his friends—all ancestral legends, all traditions of their elders, all required customs about the spirit world—that all collapsed the moment when the unclean spirit responded to Jesus’ authority, to our words of faith in Jesus Christ and our compassion for the struggling lad. No Aztecs in their collective history had even seen an evil spirit driven out. They had never known about or ever met anybody in heaven or earth who had that authority.
This factor, more than any other, opened the door for the local men to engage evangelism seriously. They now saw that Jesus Christ indeed has the power to command the spirit world through believing hearts. Appeasement of the spirit world, only this their father and ancestors had taught them. Now they could confront that lying, destructive spirit world and demand that it yield to Jesus Christ. Their fathers had trained them in local beliefs and insisted that they follow the Roman Catholic, the Protestant, the Indian, or the Evangelical claims. The local men realized that God had come among them. Now they had to decide to receive and follow the Son of God as revealed in His Word, or just to continue on in the old ways of received traditions.
I watched seven young men, who had witnessed the boy’s healing, engage the process of visiting all the homes in the entire county (at least twenty-eight villages at that time) by going house -to-house. As they said to us, “We must tell all of our relatives about the power of God to rescue, to heal, and to forgive.”
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