Answer – Fall 2016

As you know, the two critical components of the ministry mission statement are announcing the Gospel and answering those that respond. We like to inspire you with accounts of lives changed and how our volunteers lovingly and patiently meet the lost and hurting.  However, we can all fall into the dangerous patterns of living in our bubbles and not always appreciating the extent of the spiritual warfare that occurs on a daily basis all around us. I pray that this recent conversation reminds you of why we all need Jesus Christ and why this ministry is so vital.

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“A” is a seeker that comes online several times each week. She seems like any twenty something you know and could be a family friend or neighbor. However, she struggles with some difficult life experiences including sexual abuse, losing loved ones unexpectedly, and dabbling in the occult. She has visited the ministry online literally over a hundred times and is always respectful and serious but very broken. Her conversations almost always start in the same place with questions about forgiveness, how God could ever love her, and how she could be let into heaven. Her doubting nature usually results in her offering to leave the chat and asking if she should just give up on God.

Recently, a staff member took a more aggressive approach to the conversation and continued to speak truth into A despite the doubting attitude. She was reminded that God is love and that Jesus paid the price for her sin. She was told how God used incredibly broken and sinful people throughout the Bible and that He was bringing her back to Need Him time and time again to show His love for her. A did not respond with her usual hesitancy but started to acknowledge biblical truth and a desire to hear more.

As the conversation continued, A was given multiple verses about God loving her, salvation coming through faith, and how all who are saved belong to God and are never taken away from Him. She was told to read these verses out loud each day until they took root in her heart and she agreed.

The next message that came across was… “YOU WILL NEVER HAVE HER. SHE IS MINE.”  From that point on every message back was in all caps and was clearly not coming from A but rather from a demonic spirit that was rooted in her life. The next ten minutes were spiritual warfare of the highest order until the chat was closed on the other end.

The next time A returned to chat we very carefully asked her about how the chat ended and she had no recollection. We asked if she remembered typing in ALL CAPS and she had no memory. She started to put together the questions and asked if it was “like a demon or something”.  We talked about that and she admitted to feeling a presence trying to hurt her at times. We are attempting to get her to surround herself with strong believers and walk in Christian community that will call out all evil in her life.

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We are not trying to shock you. I believe in my heart that we are on the front line of sharing God’s word but have never seen anything online that was quite so evil or dramatic.  I could think of no better way to share the challenge of speaking Gospel truth into a world fractured by sin and how we are committed to sharing the good news of Jesus Christ to all people.