By Bethany Ashcraft –
I joined a one-week medical mission to Liberia with a Santa Monica-based Christian doctors group called Lighthouse Medical Missions.
During Oct. 21-25, our team of 14 American doctors, nurses and other helpers (joined by a bunch of African doctors and helpers) attended to 1,280 patients. We handed out 291 pairs of reading glasses and attended evening revival services at the Door Christian Fellowship Church in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia.
Located on the Atlantic coast, it was named after U.S. President James Monroe, founded in 1822 by the American Colonization Society for freed African-American slaves.
It was my first time in the African continent, and what I saw opened my eyes to the horrors of spiritual warfare and oppressive poverty there.
I saw patients suffering from black sores boiling up out from their legs – a repulsive symptom of having smoked the psychoactive drug Kush made from human bones dug up in cemeteries.
One patient screamed as a doctor scraped the black growth off his leg and cleaned the affected area. We saw 2-3 Kush patients a day.
Kush is a new, cheap “Zombie” drug made of toxic chemicals, herbs, cannabis and disinfectant. One major ingredient is human bone, and misguided young people are digging graves at night to obtain them, prompting police to guard cemeteries. Apparently, the bones contain traces of sulfur, which enhance the drugs effect.
Aside from seeing the Kush victims, I was startled by the manifestation of demons.
Among our team of medical professionals, I felt the freedom to exercise my faith. On the first day, I started to pray for patients. One lady looked upset. I got a translator. She had pain in many places throughout her body.
I asked her if she was Christian, but she responded that she was Muslim. I shared the Gospel with her. She pondered my words and ultimately, received Jesus. I prayed for her body and she was healed of the pains.
She wasn’t the only one who, to my surprise, reported getting healed. The woman was all smiles as I left her.
On the second day, I decided to pray for the patients who were waiting in line. This was a little bit intimidating because it meant going outside where we didn’t have guards maintaining order. I looked for a male pastor to go with me.
They all seemed busy or preoccupied, but I eventually I found Pastor Michael Goba from Sierra Leone. He was free and willing to help me.
As I was praying with my eyes closed, I heard a commotion. When I opened my eyes, people had fallen around me, manifesting demons. Pastor Goba came to my rescue and cast out the demons. Their bodies stopped convulsing, and they got up. The power of the Prince of Peace calmed the storm.
The next day, I was back outside praying among the crowd that had gathered. Demons again manifested when I prayed for people. This time it was six or seven who were afflicted. By the power of the Holy Spirit, the demons came out.
On Thursday, the crowd was too rowdy, so we prayed for patients upstairs in the two-story church building.
On Friday, it was just as rowdy, but I went out anyway with Pastor Goba. I felt compassion for people. There were too many people in line. We wouldn’t be able to attend to them all medically.
I felt moved to give them Jesus and prayed for people individually. They were listening and considering the things we said about the Gospel. We encouraged people. There were many children hanging on our arms. They followed us. We put our hands on their heads and said “God bless you” to get through the crowd.
Friday was the last day.
There were undoubtable miracles, truly from the hand of God. It was so refreshing to my spirit to see God so tangibly moving in people’s lives.
I had gotten a prophetic word before going to Africa that if I would believe and lean on God, I would see things beyond what I could think or imagine. That turned out to be true.
I’m now so passionate for seeing God move, marveling that my prayers and my hands were used to extend the healing touch of Jesus.
To learn more about a personal relationship with God, go here
Related content: Lighthouse Christian Academy student on medical mission in Jamaica, painter on a mission in Colombia.
About this writer: Bethany Ashcraft is daughter-in-law to God Reports journalist Mike Ashcraft, who helped her write it a teensy-weensy bit.
Wow! This is a life transforming story. Beautiful! People need to know demons are real and you don’t mess with them. I’m thankful Bethany had the courage to pray and know that God/the Holy Spirit is with her and more powerful than the demons. Bethany’s guardian Angel and all the prayers that were with her are bigger than the demons. I continue to pray the people that were healed and they experienced a miracle will remember who the true God is and not go back to their evil ways.