The following is translated from the Portuguese and describes a situation in an ECM church plant in Mora, Portugal, which our colleagues Vitor and Bia Biscaia have been facing since June. While we praise God for the way is so evidently working we would request that you seriously consider praying along with us, not just for this young boy, but for the whole town of Mora, that we might see a wonderful turning to God. (some names changed for reasons of confidentiality)
Please pray for
Vitor & Bia Biscaia, missionaries with ECM in the town of Mora and the authors of this diary
The family of Dona Olivia - a woman who has come to faith in Christ, but still struggles to let go of the superstitions of her Roman Catholic background. She is employed in the Parochial office of the Roman Catholic Church in Mora. Her husband is unemployed and has a problem with alcohol and a strong temper.
Her son, John - 12 years old, the subject of this diary - has been struggling under demonic attacks since May. They also have another older son, who also drinks heavily, but has recently shown an openness to the Lord
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Tuesday 27th July
Prezados amigos; (Dear friends)
It’s time we sent a letter to all friends giving you an account of our ministry and all that God has been doing for us. After 10 years of ministry here in this small rural town Mora, (popn 4000) we have seen very little fruit for our labour, and only in this last year, have we seen some clear conversions, and Dona Antonia has started coming to our meetings, and this confirmed her faith in Jesus.
Since the end of May we have been helping a family here in Mora whose 12 year old son, has been suffering from demonic possession. As a result the family has come to our meetings on three occasions, during which time John remained under the oppression of the evil spirit and two or three of us had to remain in a separate place praying for him, while the service was going on
After an extremely intense spiritual struggle in the last week of May and the first of June ( a struggle we already shared with some of you also), things began to get better and Joao passed an entire week without any problems. The occasions of demonic oppression reduced to one or two times a week, and with our prayers the situation quickly came to an end.
However from last Wednesday (July 22nd) till now the situation deteriorated suddenly with demonic attacks happening several times a day. It has continued like this till today. In the last two days we have been praying desperately for spiritual discernment to understand why. If before, we found it hard to understand why the attacks persisted, now we are more confused why they had suddenly increased.
The Lord answered our prayers, as today we came to now that 17 people in a district of Setubal (a city south of Lisbon) had been involved in occult practices focussed around a photograph of John. As we have been previously in Brazil, these things were not new to us. The surprise for us was that this was happening here in our own town and with Portuguese, as the spirits being invoked were from the occult practice of “Macumba” (which is common in Brazil, but not so much here)
Today the evil spirit which has been afflicting John added to the blasphemies it usually utters, the challenge to have a greater power than us (because of the number of people who had agreed together to invoke this curse on John) The spirit departed from the boy (because “greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4)), but we feel a great need to reinforce our prayers, crying out for a total and definitive liberation in the life of Joao, who after all, at only 12 years, is still a child.
Thank you for praying for us. We hope we can give you more information about how this whole situation developed.
Em Cristo
Família Biscaia
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| Victor Manuel Ramos Biscaia
| Rua Nova, 10
| 7490-250 MORA
| Portugal
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Wednesday 28th July
Olá amados;
Thank you for praying for us. It is well needed because the struggle continues. As promised here is some more information of what has happened to date. Please continue to pray.
After yesterday’s email, we have had yet two more occasions fighting and praying for the deliverance of John. Around 7pm we were called to the house, because John was again possessed. At 8pm we called our colleagues Eduardo and Yvonne and continued to pray, expelling the demons, and conversing with the family up to 9:30pm which was the time we had planned for a Bible study on deliverance that we have been doing with them.
We brought John, (still under the demonic influence) to our house (they are neighbours of ours, living about 50 metres from our home), and my wife Bia along with Eduardo and Yvonne continue praying for Joao in the office, while I did the Bible study with the parents and the brother. The study went well. The time of prayer however was a great struggle and left Eduardo and Yvonne exhausted. We concluded the time with prayer together and John was back to his normal self
About midnight (a short time after having left our house) John became possessed again and the struggle continued to 1:30am. Afterward we remained conversing with his mother up to 2:30. We had the distinct impression that in some place there were people invoking the evil spirits on John. One of the spirits manifested itself speaking in a Brazilian tongue, and in one of the moments Joao saw a word sritten o the ceiling, the name of one of the prinicipal goddesses of Macumba (John did not know this name and asked us if we knew what it could be)
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Thursday 29th July
Prezados amigos;
Today, a little while ago, John’s mother called us again, and we went to confront the enemy. Please continue to pray. The Lord has given us victory in every battle, but the war continues. Recently we have started a pattern of praying for John at the following three times of the day, anticipating the work of the evil one and crying out for delvierance in the life of John and the rest of his family.
12:30 às 13:30;
18:00 às 19:00
23:30 às 0:30.
During these times we will be going to their house to pray and we would ask all of you to help us during these periods. Last night John was spared from any attack. Today after 1:30 pm we have had to struggle to expel evil spirits. Please continue praying for total deliverance.
The pressure on us is very great. Some relatives, an aunt and a grandparent, are accusing the family, and more specifically the mother Olivia for not consulting “virtuosos” (the portuguese word for mediums). The aunt insists that it is the mother who needs to be helped, and that we are a stumbling block.
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Friday 30th July
Yesterday at the after lunch time of prayer John began again to manifest the evil spirits, but was calmed down by the time we got to the house. The rest of the afternoon went well and we prayed in peace, without any struggle.
After that John went with his mother and Bia, my wife, to a Bible Camp run by a neighbouring Church. At the time for the meeting, he once again exhibited signs of a demonic attack and could not go into the meeting room. Bia joined together with a believer and a deacon of the Church in intercession on his behalf and in casting out the evil spirit. he was able then to stay in the meeting to the end.
Both yesterday in the nighttime prayer of the night, and today at lunchtime, we have been able to pray in peace without any manifestation of the enemy. For this reason of we give glory to God. Rejoice with us and stand firm in your intercession for us, because the war continues and we have other battles ahead, as other relatives of John are still tied to the occult and need release.
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Monday 3rd August
Yesterday we had a very significant time of worship with the presence of 4 families of home church (Igreja Ponte de Sor) who are experienced in this ministry of deliverance. After worship we prayed for each member of John’s family, one by one. Firstly, we prayed for John, and glory to God, no evil spirit manifested itself. Later, at their home, , in the night prayer, each family member prayed, John, his brother and his parents. The father prayed for the first time ever. it was beautiful to see this. One of the things we have praying lately for this family has been that the father would become a true father and priest for his family. His attitude in prayer shows us that he is beginning to take this seriously.
Today also at midday, everything has gone well. We have been able to pray again without interference. We are encouraged in our hearts and believe that god has done something significant through last nights prayer time. We had a time of sharing and the testimony of the other believers really touched the hearts of Olivia and her family.
Vitor
We have been here in Lisbon 16 months now, living and serving God in the Park of the Nations. The work that the Lord is doing here is like a tree that has been planted, is taking root and beginning to flourish, but needs care and attention through prayer if it is to grow and be strong and fruitful. Saturday 28th March is set aside as a day of Prayer. So please pray for
