Mouth of a Soothsayer Shut by God
The following is a true account, published as narrated by an evangelist of
Friends Missionary Prayer Band, namely Samuel.
Samuel began his work for the day not knowing that God was going to do something
beyond the imagination of a common person.
He was waiting in the bus stand near his house, but it was a longer wait than
usual. His eyes fell on the folks who met regularly in a canteen across the
street, the children with their pretty uniforms – the scene that he was very
familiar with.
The bus eventually arrived and he along with 5 other passengers boarded the bus.
The next stop was at a village called Sunganahalli and two or three people
boarded the bus from there. One of those men was a soothsayer by profession. As
soon as he got into the bus, he promptly began to predict the future of the
passengers sitting in the bus. The passengers too made their way to him wanting
to know what was in store for them. Each one gave quite generously to the
soothsayer as he unfolded their mysteries.
Samuel was quite uninterested and totally engrossed with his plan for the day.
After a few minutes, the soothsayer made his way toward Samuel and told him that
he could tell him everything he wanted to know and was questioning why he was
not interested to know about it. Samuel turned away without answering the
soothsayer. The soothsayer was not willing to leave him alone and began telling
Samuel all about his present and future.
The account was true to some extent but was filled with lies for the most part.
At this stage, Samuel was only reminded about the slave girl with a spirit of
divination who was following Paul and Silas. Samuel, not happy with what the
soothsayer was doing to him, prayed in his heart that God would shut the mouth
of the soothsayer. Immediately the soothsayer’s mouth was shut and though he
tried, he could not utter a word. Panic struck the people in the bus as they
regarded the soothsayer very highly.
The passengers were blaming Samuel for what had happened and began to form a mob
to attack him. There was only one passenger who spoke on behalf of Samuel and he
was badly outnumbered in the argument. When things were beginning to go out of
control, Samuel intervened and told the mob that he was a follower of Jesus and
that if they all would pray to Him, the soothsayer would be delivered.
The passengers willingly accepted and repeated the prayer after Samuel. He also
told the soothsayer that only Jesus could heal him and asked him to believe in
Him. Samuel requested for some water, prayed over it and gave the same to the
soothsayer. He drank it, within a few seconds, to the amazement of the
onlookers. God then released the soothsayer’s tongue and he become normal.
This opened the door for Samuel to share the gospel with those passengers and
the soothsayer. They all listened intently land showed much interest. The
soothsayer opened his heart to Christ and vowed to follow Him.
Samuel had no inkling of what God was going to use him in a special way that
day. With joy and a deep sense of gratitude to our Lord, Samuel continued his
missionary journey.
With permission from Job Anbalagan gloryofhiscross@yahoo.co.in