After about four hours, Ana was still thrashing around and had be held down by 6-8 people at a time to keep her from running to the river to throw herself in. She didn’t seem to get tired, but the people holding her down did, and so they would switch off, taking turns and rubbing their scratches and bruises that happened as a result of them trying to keep Ana in the house. Her eyes remained tightly shut. It was kind of neat to see that everyone stayed awake and sat in a circle around her, wanting to help her and protect her from the thing that wanted to take her away. It was also neat to see the community of Christ responding like that with a determination to not give up on her, even if she was determined to escape them.
Sometime after midnight, Selmira, the first believer from this area, who came to faith over 10 years ago, came over to where we were all sitting. She had been praying while lying in her mosquito net because she was feeling ill the whole time. She came over and knelt down by Ana and started talking to Ana. I was surprised because it hadn’t occurred to me to be persistent in trying to talk to Ana since she didn’t really seem to hear what we were saying the majority of the time, but Selmira started reminding Ana of her faith in Jesus Christ (Ana is a professing believer and was baptized in the last year). She reminded her that she is never alone, and that Jesus is always with her. She reminded her of Jesus’ great love and care for her, and that Jesus is stronger than anything that might want to harm her, that she just needed to look to and hold on to Jesus. After Selmira started talking to her and praying intermediately over her, Ana stopped thrashing around and lay still for the first time. Selmira even put Ana’s head in her lap and stroked her hair as she was talking to her. Just this act would have been impossible minutes before, since Ana had been trying to bite anyone close to her. The group who had been holding her down gradually let go of her when they saw her relax. With the context of Ana having said over and over again that there were two men at the door waiting to take her (two men that no one could see except Ana, even while her eyes were tightly closed the whole time), Selmira asked Ana if she could see Jesus. At that point, Ana nodded yes.
Selmira kept talking to her, reminding Ana of who she is in Christ and how He can help if we just focus our eyes on Him and trust in Him. After about a half-hour of Selmira talking and praying over her, Ana opened her eyes for the first time since the whole ordeal started and actually seemed lucid. Eventually with Ana being back to her normal self, everyone gradually started nodding off as we were all exhausted. The next morning Ana was super sore and bashful. She couldn’t remember anything after getting out of the canoe, but she asked forgiveness, especially to those she had hit or kicked from the night before.
Selmira kept talking to her, reminding Ana of who she is in Christ and how He can help if we just focus our eyes on Him and trust in Him. After about a half-hour of Selmira talking and praying over her, Ana opened her eyes for the first time since the whole ordeal started and actually seemed lucid. Eventually with Ana being back to her normal self, everyone gradually started nodding off as we were all exhausted. The next morning Ana was super sore and bashful. She couldn’t remember anything after getting out of the canoe, but she asked forgiveness, especially to those she had hit or kicked from the night before.
The other two girls who had said that someone had touched them during the last meeting ended up dreaming of the same merman and his helper. He told them that he had been looking for another girl (Ana), and that he had touched them by mistake. Their separate, but eerily similar accounts of their dreams left little doubt that they had really dreamed with the mermen.
This situation caused the team to remember the writings of Paul Hiebert on “the Excluded Middle” in missions (click here to read his article on "The Flaw of the Excluded Middle"). This “excluded middle” is talking about where this physical world and the spiritual world interact and intersect in our experiences here on earth. So many daily fears and concerns of tribal people fall into this “middle” that is so often not addressed, and sadly, very often excluded in Western missions, because we, as Westerners, rarely if ever experience or witness these kinds of “spiritual encounters.” We’re so quick to say that these kinds of things “don’t exists” or that people’s imagination “is getting the better of them.” But doesn’t Scripture teach us that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces in the heavenly realms?” (Ephesians 6:12) Is it not very plausible in the case of Ana and the many others who report having had the exact same experience as she, that our spiritual enemy is crafty, deceptive, fear-producing, and can present themselves in whatever form they would like to trick us and cause us harm? Like even pink dolphins and mermaids? Considering John 10:10, if the enemy in some cases can’t possess, perhaps they try to deceive and manipulate people so as to cause them to harm themselves or even try and drown themselves…? I’m so thankful that there is story after story throughout Scripture of the power of Jesus over all things: physical AND spiritual beings! His power is supreme in these things, and He rarely if ever is seen in His healings separating the physical body from the person’s spiritual needs.
This is not the whole story of everything that happened; it’s just a small part really. But this blog post is already longer than should be allowed, haha. In the end, watching all this unfold was definitely a sober reminder not to take lightly or dismiss comments made by the people, even when they talk about encounters with mermaids, and to never miss the opportunity to point people to our Hope and Peace in the midst of fear and turmoil and call them to trust Him.
This situation caused the team to remember the writings of Paul Hiebert on “the Excluded Middle” in missions (click here to read his article on "The Flaw of the Excluded Middle"). This “excluded middle” is talking about where this physical world and the spiritual world interact and intersect in our experiences here on earth. So many daily fears and concerns of tribal people fall into this “middle” that is so often not addressed, and sadly, very often excluded in Western missions, because we, as Westerners, rarely if ever experience or witness these kinds of “spiritual encounters.” We’re so quick to say that these kinds of things “don’t exists” or that people’s imagination “is getting the better of them.” But doesn’t Scripture teach us that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces in the heavenly realms?” (Ephesians 6:12) Is it not very plausible in the case of Ana and the many others who report having had the exact same experience as she, that our spiritual enemy is crafty, deceptive, fear-producing, and can present themselves in whatever form they would like to trick us and cause us harm? Like even pink dolphins and mermaids? Considering John 10:10, if the enemy in some cases can’t possess, perhaps they try to deceive and manipulate people so as to cause them to harm themselves or even try and drown themselves…? I’m so thankful that there is story after story throughout Scripture of the power of Jesus over all things: physical AND spiritual beings! His power is supreme in these things, and He rarely if ever is seen in His healings separating the physical body from the person’s spiritual needs.
This is not the whole story of everything that happened; it’s just a small part really. But this blog post is already longer than should be allowed, haha. In the end, watching all this unfold was definitely a sober reminder not to take lightly or dismiss comments made by the people, even when they talk about encounters with mermaids, and to never miss the opportunity to point people to our Hope and Peace in the midst of fear and turmoil and call them to trust Him.
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