haunted

Few weeks ago, my pastor gave a sermon during our church service. I kept thinking about his words, “God only gives you sweet dreams. If you had a nightmare, it must not be from God. Hahaha..” I couldn’t understand. Was that just a joke? Or a real statement? I didn’t confront him to find out the truth tho’.

That night, I thought of these words again & again before I closed my eyes and ventured into the dreamworld. That very night, I had a nightmare. In my dream, I saw a friend, someone whom I’ve not kept in touch for some time. I dreamt that she had long been in deep trouble. When I get to know about it, it was too late. Then I woke up. Troubled. “How is she doing?” I wondered. And I remembered my pastor’s words again. “God only gives you sweet dreams. If you had a nightmare, it must not be from God. Hahaha...” “Why must he “Hahaha” at the end of his sentence?” I thought grouchily.

So the next day I decided to call her– just to check her out. She was a depressed person when I called her (I was not surprised for she had always been so, she’s a pessimist). We chatted about life troubles, work, people, money, family and etc. Then she started to talk about something which she’s never told anyone – she’s being haunted. She had not told anyone about this, for she was sure that nobody will believe her. I believed her.

Quickly I told her the reason why I called her up – my nightmare. But I didn’t tell her the details, for I know for sure that it will only bring her down. So I comforted her, and told her to pray to God for help. She replied, “Don’t ask me to pray! I’ve prayed so many times and I’m tired. I give up. It’s useless!”

“Which God did you pray to?” I asked.
“I’ve tried many gods, I went to the temples and prayed and just last week, I went for channeling (rasuk tuhan). I tried his remedy and it’s totally useless!”
“No wonder why it's useless. The God I’m talking about is the one and only God on heaven and earth, whose son is Jesus Christ, our saviour.” I interrupted her lamentations.
“We have totally different thoughts. 100% different. I’m a Buddhist and you’re a Christian.”
“Are you sure that you’re a Buddhist? Buddhists do not go to the temple and pray and burn incenses…” To cut things short, she was very adamant that since she had sought so many gods, there’s no reason to seek Jesus for help. She believes now that only she alone can help herself.
“How do you help yourself?” I was curious.
“Let them do whatever they want unto me. I won’t care.” She replied.
“But why? When there’s a way for you to cast them away from you, why can’t you give it a try?” I had talked to her about pastors casting out demons from people in churches and tried to coax her to visit a local church there. She was interested, but steadfast to her rule, “I’m a Buddhist.”

It was a very, very long talk. To the end I remembered my objective of calling her – to help her if she needed any, and not to bring up any argument. So I did not push her far. But I reminded her, “Try all ways you want. But if one day, you find that no one can help you, not even yourself, and you really badly needed help, call out to Jesus. Ask him to save you. And you’ll be safe. Trust me.”

Those were the same words many people had repeatedly told me few years ago, which had ultimately brought me to Jesus. And He saved me, indeed. Praise Lord. ;-)