Siquior Island in November of 2000
After spending a very eventful five days making it through category five typhoon, we moved on further south to Siquior Island. Siquior is known in the Philippines as the island of witchcraft. There are people from all over the world who venture to Siquior every year for a witches council. Not knowing if it is true or not I was told by the local pastor that they actually perform human sacrifices at these councils and that is a scary thought in itself.
Knowing that we were going to Siquior we were preparing ourselves in prayer for whatever God was going to use us for. We had planned on a one night stay to do a miracle crusade and then we were going back to Cebu to minister in the slums. As our boat was nearing the island Lorraine and I began to pray and claim that everywhere we stepped was holy ground. As the boat docked and the gang plank went out we began to head down the plank. Just as our feet hit the dock, it was like a shockwave went out and we knew that where ever we were was holy and the ground we walked on was holy.
We headed to the hotel where we were going to stay and I was not very happy about it because I found out that we had to walk fifteen miles in the dark to get back to it after our service. It seemed they did not have headlights on their cars and therefore did not drive at night. So as we were driving down the road I noticed a sign for a resort and it was only a half of mile through the jungle or a mile by the road to where we were holding the crusade. I asked Pastor Ken Tagud to stop and see if we could get a room there? He told me that it was full and besides we could not afford it. I told him to humor me and stop and we did. We went to the registration desk and asked if they had two rooms and they told us they were full to which Pastor Ken did the, I told you so thing. I thanked the woman and started to leave when she said that they did have a side by side bungalow that was available. Ken told me we could not afford that and I told him not to tell me what I could afford. We looked at them and I told her we would take them. After we returned home we found that the bungalows cost us only one hundred and eleven dollars.
So, having rooms close we headed to the church for the crusade. Upon arrival we were warmly greeted by the barrio captain and the local mayor. We started the service and unknown to us there were things going on that only God could orchestrate and only God could protect us from.
During the message time as I was speaking I noticed a man holding a little girl at the very back of the church. Trying to keep my focus I continued to minister. At the end of the message I told those with us to begin to pray for everyone. Lorraine went directly to this woman who was in the second row and began to pray for her as I went to the back of the church to speak to this man. As I walked to the back God began to speak to me and tell me that what I see is not what was important and that it was the man He wanted to touch. As I got closer to the man again God spoke to me and told me it is the man He wanted me to minister to. So as I approached him he told me to pray for his daughter because she was dead. I placed my hand on her back and I am not sure she was dead or not but she was cold like ice. I said, "in the Name of Jesus be healed," and I turned to the man and said, "God wants me to tell you something," but he interrupted me and again said pray for my daughter because she is dead. Again I laid my hand on her back and said, "be healed." Then I turned to the man and told him, "your daughter is going to be alright and now I want you to listen to me." I told him that God said, "how dare you? How dare you continue to ask Him for things and you would not even give Him the time of day? How dare you always want but you can never give." God said He will rescue your daughter but He needed him to surrender.
At that point the man burst into tears and surrendered his life to Jesus on the spot. The woman that my wife had started praying for was getting very interesting. I turned my attention to helping her pray for this woman because we both recognized that there was an evil spirit in her. As we prayed, some of the most wicked and evil things came out of her. There were voices of all kinds, voices of men and voices that we did not even recognize. After about an hour of praying everything became calm again. It was at that point I made a decision that we needed to stay longer than just that night, so we ended up staying for three more nights and again the entire cost for the two bungalows was only one hundred and eleven dollars US.
The next morning we started at 9 AM and we had the barrio captain come forward and tell us that he had given his heart to the Lord and he did not care if it cost him his job or not, that he would rather serve Jesus. Next thing that happened was this little girl and this man came running down the aisle shouting and praising God. When the man came to the mic he told us how God had brought his little girl back to life but that was not the greatest thing that happened, he said he had gotten saved and it was an awesome thing. Next one to come was the lady we had prayed for, for so long. She began by telling us that she was sent by the witches council to disrupt our meetings at all costs even if it meant her life. She said when she came in she sat down and as soon as she did it felt like someone sat on her lap and then grabbed her lips so she could not talk or move. She said she could only set there, and then this white woman came and began to pray for her. She said she didn't remember much but that she knew at the end of the night she was different and that she had accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior.
Every night of the crusades were just as eventful as many came to know the Lord and many were set free from the evil around them. After four days on Siquior we returned to Cebu City and continued to minister as God lead us. Always be alert and know that not everything you see is as it is, God has something in store for you.
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Knowing that we were going to Siquior we were preparing ourselves in prayer for whatever God was going to use us for. We had planned on a one night stay to do a miracle crusade and then we were going back to Cebu to minister in the slums. As our boat was nearing the island Lorraine and I began to pray and claim that everywhere we stepped was holy ground. As the boat docked and the gang plank went out we began to head down the plank. Just as our feet hit the dock, it was like a shockwave went out and we knew that where ever we were was holy and the ground we walked on was holy.
We headed to the hotel where we were going to stay and I was not very happy about it because I found out that we had to walk fifteen miles in the dark to get back to it after our service. It seemed they did not have headlights on their cars and therefore did not drive at night. So as we were driving down the road I noticed a sign for a resort and it was only a half of mile through the jungle or a mile by the road to where we were holding the crusade. I asked Pastor Ken Tagud to stop and see if we could get a room there? He told me that it was full and besides we could not afford it. I told him to humor me and stop and we did. We went to the registration desk and asked if they had two rooms and they told us they were full to which Pastor Ken did the, I told you so thing. I thanked the woman and started to leave when she said that they did have a side by side bungalow that was available. Ken told me we could not afford that and I told him not to tell me what I could afford. We looked at them and I told her we would take them. After we returned home we found that the bungalows cost us only one hundred and eleven dollars.
So, having rooms close we headed to the church for the crusade. Upon arrival we were warmly greeted by the barrio captain and the local mayor. We started the service and unknown to us there were things going on that only God could orchestrate and only God could protect us from.
During the message time as I was speaking I noticed a man holding a little girl at the very back of the church. Trying to keep my focus I continued to minister. At the end of the message I told those with us to begin to pray for everyone. Lorraine went directly to this woman who was in the second row and began to pray for her as I went to the back of the church to speak to this man. As I walked to the back God began to speak to me and tell me that what I see is not what was important and that it was the man He wanted to touch. As I got closer to the man again God spoke to me and told me it is the man He wanted me to minister to. So as I approached him he told me to pray for his daughter because she was dead. I placed my hand on her back and I am not sure she was dead or not but she was cold like ice. I said, "in the Name of Jesus be healed," and I turned to the man and said, "God wants me to tell you something," but he interrupted me and again said pray for my daughter because she is dead. Again I laid my hand on her back and said, "be healed." Then I turned to the man and told him, "your daughter is going to be alright and now I want you to listen to me." I told him that God said, "how dare you? How dare you continue to ask Him for things and you would not even give Him the time of day? How dare you always want but you can never give." God said He will rescue your daughter but He needed him to surrender.
At that point the man burst into tears and surrendered his life to Jesus on the spot. The woman that my wife had started praying for was getting very interesting. I turned my attention to helping her pray for this woman because we both recognized that there was an evil spirit in her. As we prayed, some of the most wicked and evil things came out of her. There were voices of all kinds, voices of men and voices that we did not even recognize. After about an hour of praying everything became calm again. It was at that point I made a decision that we needed to stay longer than just that night, so we ended up staying for three more nights and again the entire cost for the two bungalows was only one hundred and eleven dollars US.
The next morning we started at 9 AM and we had the barrio captain come forward and tell us that he had given his heart to the Lord and he did not care if it cost him his job or not, that he would rather serve Jesus. Next thing that happened was this little girl and this man came running down the aisle shouting and praising God. When the man came to the mic he told us how God had brought his little girl back to life but that was not the greatest thing that happened, he said he had gotten saved and it was an awesome thing. Next one to come was the lady we had prayed for, for so long. She began by telling us that she was sent by the witches council to disrupt our meetings at all costs even if it meant her life. She said when she came in she sat down and as soon as she did it felt like someone sat on her lap and then grabbed her lips so she could not talk or move. She said she could only set there, and then this white woman came and began to pray for her. She said she didn't remember much but that she knew at the end of the night she was different and that she had accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior.
Every night of the crusades were just as eventful as many came to know the Lord and many were set free from the evil around them. After four days on Siquior we returned to Cebu City and continued to minister as God lead us. Always be alert and know that not everything you see is as it is, God has something in store for you.
Back to Stories To Intrigue