Pastor Hendry's Personal Testimony

I will briefly explain what happened to me in spiritual area that led me to know and utilize the power of Jesus Christ in my life. While as a young schoolteacher in the remote part of the Fiji Islands, I came across the power of darkness that drove me almost insane. One of my friends had committed suicide. This was in the year 1984. Custom and my religious background brought to my attention that when people die, they come back to haunt other people especially if they commit suicide. The evil spirits while doing my daily work attacked me. When I shared about this incident to my other friends, they said that my friend who had committed suicide was haunting me. All I needed was someone who could drive the spirit out of my life. To talk to people about evil spirits and their activities was not acceptable to anyone in my society. Their point was that it is a taboo.  

Days and weeks went by without any help from anyone. I was very religious and very much devoted to my Gods. My Indian background had taught me good lessons about revenge. If anyone did anything wrong to me, my response to him/her was to get even. I was trained in Martial Arts and fighting was not a problem for me. If anyone who was too big for me to handle, my trainer had taught me other means and method to get him knocked out. The use of Oriental weapons becomes very handy when you are about to loose the fight. I was trained in the use of Oriental weapons for self defense.  

So now since evil spirits were harassing me, my only response was to get them out of my life. I said to myself that who ever had done witchcraft on me will have to pay the price. So in this situation I had to take revenge from the person who had done this evil thing to me. I could not sleep properly in the night. When I did get some sleep, evil spirits would come to my dreams and harass me. My bed would shake in the middle of the night. An actual figure would move in my room. As soon as I would open my eyes that thing would disappear. It is strange how this figure would change its form. 

This strange figure would harass me mostly while I am sleeping. Some people asked me how it looked like. Brother I am not interested how this figure looked like.  I was trying to get out of his grip on my life. Never the less I will tell you that I actually saw him with my physical eyes.  Evil spirits are real and they have an assignment from their leader, which is Satan. He has come to destroy mankind through his cunning and subtle work. He will destroy anyone who will come across his path except those who are born again people.  

One of my co-workers in my school offered me help when I explained to her my problem. She arranged a witchcraft lady to pray for me. This particular person had powers and she helped me to some extent. But the evil spirits came back more powerfully when she left. I tried other avenues for help but all the effort was in vain. My entire body was hurting me. I had breathing problems. I had to take a lot of medications. My head would hurt me continuously. My heart started to fail. My kidneys started to give me problems.  There was constant pain in my body. My back was almost twisted through a car accident. I also developed stomach ulcers. The sickness in my body cost me a lot of money for medical bills. 

Day and night I would be constant pain. Evil spirits would harass me constantly with scary dreams and disturbance in the night. I would always look at the door and the windows to see if anyone was starring at me. To my amazement I saw human figure moving to and from my windows, some one told me that if you put salt around the door of the house evil spirits would not come near your house. So I went to my kitchen and brought one kg of salt and poured it around the door.  

Than I would wait silently for the evil spirit to come to the door because in order for the evil spirit to enter my house he had to pass through the door. Since I had placed salt at the door, I believed evil spirits would not enter my house. At around 11 pm - 12.00 am, I would hear dogs crying not far from my house. I would get so mad at the dogs that I wanted to spank them hard at their back. I said to myself as to why they have to cry at this time of the night. I said to myself "they should go somewhere else to cry” Something else happened when the dogs cried in a frightened tone. I could hear strange sound. Sound of someone walking nears my home. A knock would come on my door.  Before I could do anything, the evil spirits would cross over the salt and enter my house. I was in constant state of fear when that happened.    

Something had to be done or else this thing would take my life. I told my mother about this incident. She prayed hard to our Gods but the response was negative. Nothing seemed to work. I went to see medical doctor hoping that he would give me some kind of medicine, which would give me a good sleep and calm my mind down. It did not work either. As soon as I opened my eyes, all negative thoughts would appear in my mind about death and demons. After giving up all hope, I remembered my friend Yogesh. Some time earlier during the year, he had witnessed to me about Jesus. 

He shared with me now Jesus delivered people from addiction. That amazed me. He also told me that a lot of healing and miracles had taken place when people put their faith in Jesus. He also shared with me as to how Jesus delivered people from demons and evil spirits. Those words started to come to my mind. I remember him saying that "if you don't find help anywhere, call upon Jesus". He said Jesus saves, Jesus heals and Jesus delivers people from Satan's hold on our lives. 

So while I was going through this spiritual attack in my life, I started to pray. Christian prayer was new to me. In desperation I called on to God to deliver me. Some thing inside me was saying, "call onto the name of Jesus". God has mysterious ways of doing things we don't understand. That week I went to see my friend Yogesh who lived In Grantham Road. I was transferred from Nasinu teachers college to Vunidawa as primary school teacher. Vunidawa is about sixty kilo miles from downtown Suva, Fiji. Grantham Road is not far from Suva. It was about 6.30 pm when I went to see my friend Yogesh.  

He asked me as to what happened that led me to seek his help. I told him that my friend’s wife had done witchcraft upon me. He inquired as to how did I know that. I explained that the witchcraft doctor told me about the problem I was going through. He cautioned me not to consult any witchcraft doctor any more. But I needed help. I asked him as to how in the world I could come out of the problem I was in. He had promised me that if I ever needed help when nothing seemed to work for me, I should see him. So I said that I would appreciate if he could help me. 

My friend Yogesh Somaru was one of the best male vocalists in the Fiji Islands. He is a gifted keyboard player and a fine musician. In fact he is the owner of Dominion Music and Sound System.  He ran a group called the Marshall Symphony. Some of the top musicians played in his group. I was in the rhythm section-playing guitar. His Methodist background as a Christian had an impact upon my life. The amazing thing that he said to me was the name of Jesus. When nothing worked for me to help me get out of my problem, I sought help from my friend. 

He said that the only way to get out of the problem was by believing in Jesus. My friend Yogesh told me to go to a church and let the pastor of the church pray over me. For me to go to a church had to be a miracle.  I thought to myself. "What would my family say"? My friends would laugh at me for going to a church. Attending church in those days was for poor people. To my knowledge Christian religion was for "white people only". So to follow Jesus, everyone whom I knew would make fun of me. My first reaction to my friend’s advice was to cut the subject out. Going to church for prayer was foreign to me and therefore anything to do with Jesus and church should be avoided at all cost. 

But than I thought, "no body was able to help me so far, if the church people help me through prayer I should go for it" So I asked him "which church should I go for prayer"? His response was to me was very straightforward. “Go to any church". There were so many churches in my area where I live and I could have gone to any one of them. But the Holy Spirit has amazing ways to lead people to Jesus Christ. At that time I used to play in a musical band at 8 miles Nasinu called the "Music Masters". Not far from my music practice place, there was a church called "Victory Assemblies Of God Church" So I said to myself that I would go that church because it would be easy for me to go for music practice as well. 

Earlier I had asked my friend if I could still play in Musical band, He said that it was fine for me to play in music band and go to the church at the same time. Than I asked him another question. "Can I drink beer as well" if I go to church. His response was that I could drink beer and go to church as well. That sounded good to me. That night I drank Fiji Beer and was drunk. I wanted the evil spirits not to attack me while I was sleeping. So when I became drunk I was sound asleep. The next morning I told my wife that I was going to the church for a prayer. All these time my wife was very disturbed about my situation. She saw that I could not sleep properly and was in constant pain all the time. 

She had no problem to let me go to a church service. My house is on a hill. It is a very beautiful place. In front of our house is the Pacific Ocean. The sky was clear blue. Birds were flying over the trees looking for food. Their singing and cheerfulness brought to my attention that life of birds were better than human beings. They have nothing to worry and fret about. A cool soft breeze from the sea was blowing over the land. The sun had just come out from the east. Its orange rays filled the landscape with brilliant reflection of the sun. That morning was full of beauty but to me everything seemed dead. Life was not worth living anymore.  I felt that there is nothing in this world to look forward. Everything in my mind looked negative. 

I got up and got ready to go to church. I was half drunk from the Fiji Beer I drank the previous night. As I drew near to the church I saw a gentleman looking straight at me. I think he knew who I was. Later on I found out that this gentleman was the assistant pastor of the church. To my surprise he was my wife’s cousin brother and I was not aware of it. He had seen me on the stage performing music concert. He was full of joy and happiness. I wonder what made him like that. He said, “welcome to Gods house".  The love and interest he had shown for me to help me was great.  

I was not feeling fine. I asked him if he could help me in healing me. I said that someone had done witchcraft on me and I would really appreciate if he could do some kind of chants on me to drive all evil spirits out of my life. He said that they don't do that. What I needed was prayer. Than he opened a particular place in the bible where Jesus had driven demos form a person. He said that if I would believe in Jesus, God would help me come out of my problem. He invited me inside his church. Inside the church I met some people whom I knew. They were very excited to have me in the church. One of them was my cousin brother Jenny. 

Later on I found out that Jenny was one of the top gospel singers in the country. He had composed a lot of gospel songs. He gave me a lot of positive encouragement saying that Jesus can and He will deliver me from any problem I could think about. That sounded like a winning battle in the spiritual realm against demons and evil spirits. I entered the church building. It was a small building with tin and timberwork. As soon as the singing started I started to feel uneasy. Almost everyone in the church was singing songs and praising their God, 

I also sang songs but not their style. Their style of singing was very different than my movie songs. All of a sudden some people started crying. I wonder what was wrong? Is their God mad at them? Or something else happened that made them sad. I felt sorry for them. A gentleman almost double my size appeared on the platform. His voice was so powerful that he did not need a microphone. He preached for about 45 minutes and the only thing that entered my mind was Jesus dying on the cross.  At the end of his message he called my name to come to the front. 

He asked me some questions "Do you in Jesus?” My response was "Yes". I had heard about Jesus when I came to the church that day. The next question he asked me was. "Do want to invite Jesus into your heart"? I response was "Yes I want to invite him into my heart". I repeated a prayer after the preacher. 

Dear father in heaven, Thank you so much for your son Jesus who died for my sins on the cross. I believe that by his sacrificial death on the cross he has set me free from the consequences of sin and judgment. Please forgive all my sins.  Now by faith I invite you into my heart. Come Lord Jesus into my heart and make me the kind of person you want me to be.

The minute I said that prayer something amazing happened. I had never experienced that spiritual experience ever in my life. I worshipped my Gods as well for a number of years but nothing fascinated me as much as Jesus. There were about four people in front of me praying in authority in Jesus name. The thing to notice was that all of them were asking God to intervene in my life and show me the right way to God. All of a sudden I felt a hand touching my shoulder. I couldn't see that person but the fact remained that His hand was touching my shoulder. I looked around to see as to who was touching me. The only people I saw were the ones who were praying for me but this invisible hand came from behind me. It was not long when I knew who was touching me. It was Jesus. 

I could not control my tears. All I could say was "thank you Jesus". Did any body else feel that experience that day? No, it was only me who felt that beautiful experience. I remember that when Jesus laid his hand my shoulder, something like lightening went right through my body. My body felt very light and I also had this feeling of joy in my heart. I asked the preacher to pray for my head because I was in intense pain. The minute he laid his hand on my head the pain disappeared. By now I am already fired up with this new experience. 

That Sunday turned out to be the most beautiful day of my life. It was the third Sunday in the month of April 1984. That day I had made up my mind that I will follow Jesus as long as I lived on this earth. Something else was happening inside my heart. A burning passion for Jesus and his kingdom was rising inside me. After the service in the church almost everybody in the church was hugging and kissing me. First time in my life I found out that church people are different. They are full of love and care for others especially in Victory Assemblies Of God Church.  The church now became my second home.            

I came home that afternoon full of excitement and passion for Jesus. I have a big extended family. Every body is watching me. They wonder what in the world had happened to me. I am telling everybody that I Jesus is one and true living God. Some of them get mad at me. Others think that I have gone crazy. The only person who understood me was my wife. She knew something had happened to me in the church. I explained to her how the church people prayed for me and how Jesus had touched me. The joy and passion in my heart for Jesus was bubbling so strong that I could shout on top of my voice. I tried to convince my wife to accompany me to he church on Sunday. The response I received from her was negative. She told me that it was fine for me to go the church. She believed that going to church was good for people. People become good husbands and leave all bad things in life. 

She was surprised to see changes in me. Changes like physical healing in my physical body. My countenance changed bright after prayer in the church. To make me happy, she accompanied me to the church the following Sunday. She thought that she was doing me a favor to accompany me to the church. Some people in the church knew us. Everybody welcomed us and they made us feel at home in the church. After preaching the message for about forty minutes, the preacher called us in the front at the altar for prayer. After salvation prayer, my wife also got the same experience that I had when I gave my heart to Jesus the previous Sunday. She said that she had never in her life experienced the power of God in her life the way she had when she invited Jesus into her heart. My Christian journey began from that day. My wife and I attended all the services. We held prayer meeting at our home regularly.  I started reading the bible from the book of Genesis to the book of Revelation. 

I spent a lot of time in prayer alone. I would shut my room and pray for more than two hours a day. I would make notes on the scriptures I read.  Attending bible studies, prayer meeting and Sunday services excited me a lot. Some people would make fun of me because I started to attend church services. Some of my friends and relatives would turn away from me because I was a Christian. Some of my very close friends started to turn way from me because I did not join their sinful parties. The bible says that "if any man is in Christ he is a new creature, old things are gone and behold every thing is become new" 2 Corinthian 5:17. To me living for Jesus is more exciting than enjoying the sinful pleasures of this world. God loves all people as they are. He is not against anyone. He is merciful, compassionate, loving and forgiving. But He hates sin. Like I said earlier, I made the right decision to follow Jesus because he paid the price for my sin on the cross. As I believed on His name and called upon Him in faith, He responded by giving me a new life. He also delivered me from the power of darkness and brought me into the kingdom of God. I did not have to pay for anything. He did it all free of charge.  Since I am saved from Gods judgment, it is now my responsibility to do something for His kingdom. 

I often spent a lot of time in prayer. At times during prayer I would feel a strong presence of the Holy Spirit in my room. At other times during praise and worship I would enjoy the anointing of the power of God over my life. Prayer became a part of my life. Talking to God every now and than increased my spiritual walk with God. If you are a Christian and you are spending little time in prayer, you will not be able to serve God in full capacity. Jesus spent a lot of time in prayer. 

After prayer I would start studying on the subject of healing because I needed that. Reading Christian books on healing and applying the principles taught in it made a tremendous difference in my life. In fact Jesus had healed me of a number of sickness in my body. I will list a few of them. I was healed of:
1. Sinus
2. Gastric problems
3. Kidney problem
4. Back ache
5. Heart problem.
6. Severe head ache
7. Breathing problem
8. Depression

Jesus also delivered me from 
A. Alcohol. 
B. Sinful life. 
C. Fear.
D. Demons and evil spirits.
E. Outbursts of Rage
F. Mind problem.
G. Financial problem.
H. Worry.

I thank God for His mercy upon my life. He gave me another chance to change my direction and I believe I made the right choice. I had made up my mind to follow Jesus. It was not easy but with Gods help I am able to move in the direction He is leading me. I never wanted to be a Pastor of a church. Being a member of a church was fine for me. Music is the key area I wanted to work for Gods kingdom. Singing and playing music led me to a lot of people around the country. As time progressed, God changed my ministry. I still worship God with music and sing for the glory of God but pastoring a church is something I did not choose. God led me in that direction but the truth about the matter is that I enjoy the ministry that God has given me. People are getting healed in our meetings. Many people are saved and many more are added to Gods kingdom in our church. 

After I got born again, I started to share my faith with other people. I started with my own family and friends. Whenever I saw an opportunity to witness, I would start with my personal testimony. I would share with them how Jesus healed me of all my sickness and pain in my body. Demons and all evil spirit had to run away from me the moment I prayed in faith in the name of Jesus. 

My healing and deliverance from demonic attacks led me to witness to other people. I would start to witness to people about Jesus in the streets and in various parts of my country. God led me to team up with some of my Christian friends who were hungry and thirsty for God.

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