Visiting Churches
The
next Sunday, I took Kristin to the large expat church that I had visited
two weeks earlier.
The introductions took even longer this time, the sermon was just as weak, and
we were ignored afterward, which felt better than being
treated like lepers.
The Sunday thereafter, we visited a Pentecostal church but the sermon was so bad that we walked out in the middle of it. The Sunday after that, we visited a small Baptist church for expats pastored by a very old American pastor. After the service with a very good sermon, as the carpool heading to a restaurant for lunch passed one Buddhist temple after another, I asked the pastor how many demons he has cast out of people in this land given over to the worship of idols. The pastor, a lifelong Baptist who had pastored churches in USA for more than 40 years before 'retiring' and moving to southeast Asia, replied that he has never cast demons out of anyone nor believe in doing such a thing.
His church did have an American lady who after hearing our story and request, considered housing Kristin in her townhouse but ultimately declined , saying that her place shares thin walls with her neighbors on both sides, and having been saved relatively recently, she didn't feel confident enough about being near spiritual warfare. We thanked her for her consideration and honesty.
One evening, we heard hymn singing from the compound next to us through the open windows of the apartment where we were staying. The next day, we visited the compound, which had several classroom-sized buildings, found it to be a local Church of Christ, explained our situation to the gentleman who welcomed us, and asked him if we could use one of the rooms in his compound, when it is not in use, to pray and cast out demons. His friendly demeanor changed upon hearing about demons, he said no and quickly showed us the door.