Oita, an OMS Village Church Planting worker from Ethiopia, recently found a village extremely resistant to Christianity, as it has always been a stronghold of Islam, so he followed his training and began prayer-walking around the village. For two weeks, he prayed as he walked.
Finally, Oita felt it was time to approach the village elders to request permission to come into the village. Oita approached the two elders, realizing that one of them was a witch doctor. The witch doctor asked Oita, “What would you like to bring to our village?” Oita said, “I come with a message of Good News.” The elders were not at all impressed and said, “We have heard these stories you tell about your God before. How do we know your God is greater than our gods? How do we know your God is the real God?"
The witch doctor said to Oita, “Here is what I will say to you: I want your God to prove to us that he is real. I have a test for you. I have not been able to hear out of one of my ears for many years. When the wind blows, it hurts badly, and there is no cure. If your God is real and one to be trusted, he must heal my ear so that I can hear. Then we will know we can believe you and your God.”
By this time, many in the town had gathered around and were overhearing the conversation. Oita, without wavering, said, “I will pray.”
Oita took the headband off the elder’s head and began to pray. A short but powerful prayer like the prayer of Peter in Acts 3:6. “In the name of Jesus Christ, I ask that this hearing come back to this ear so these people can believe you are the real God.”
When Oita finished praying, he put his finger in the elder’s good ear so that the man could not hear from it. Oita asked someone to call out to the elder. A man from the village walked away from the group and called out the name of the elder, and the village elder proclaimed, “I hear him.”
Then, the man from the village walked further away and called the name of the elder again, and the elder declared, “I can hear him!”
Spontaneous worship and praise broke out to the God who could heal the village elder. The village elder trusted in Christ, and so did many of the people who were standing around observing.
Today, there is a flourishing church that meets under a mango tree in the village that was once under Islamic rule.
