His Terrifying Beauty
Return to an Island Called Patmos
Violent and terrifying screams echoed out across the ancient and unreached village nestled in the volcanic foothills of the island where my family lived.
As I got up and went outside to see what was happening, I realized there was a serious conflict developing on the land we were improving for friends of our family, literally, just a stones throw away. In a split second, and without thinking, I found myself in a full sprint running down the familiar jungle path towards the clearing where the screams were disseminating. As I made my way out into the opening I could see Ketut, the youngest brother of our host family, and the second in command of one of the islands most feared and notorious "organizations." He was in an intense, spastic and psychotic state screaming viciously at his oldest brother, who was clearly terrified and for good reason.
Ketut, although the youngest of four, was feared not only by his family and village, but also by most who knew of him throughout the region. He served as an enforcer and the closest confidant of the organizations founding godfather. He openly practiced the dark arts (which I personally witnessed on a number of occasions) and claimed a shocking number of hits for the organization. His oldest brother also served in the organization but in a much lower and less involved capacity.
As I approached Ketut and his brother to help mediate the situation, what seemed to be a natural argument between two men immediately escalated into something I have never before witnessed. Ketut contorted his hands into an odd, intermingled shape and placed them together directly on his chest, he threw his head back, gazed into the sky and started chanting something that was neither in Indonesian or English - it was a language I had never heard. After a few seconds, he slowly righted his head and looked directly at his brother, but now his eyes were almost closed, just tiny slits remained. The only thing I could see were the whites of his eyes, and from my perspective it seemed like his pupils had completely disappeared. What happened next will stay with me as long as I live.
With his hands still contorted into an odd configuration, held tightly to his chest, and his eyes looking like those of a snake, he raised one leg and remained balanced on the other. In this moment the entire spiritual atmosphere changed and I could feel something that I could not see starting to envelope all three of us. All the hairs on my body stood at attention. It felt like static electricity was running up and down my spine, neck and the back of my head. As soon as this happened, Ketut commanded something in a language I could not understand with unbelievable authority, powerfully slammed his raised foot to the ground and simultaneously thrust his hands forward towards his brother, almost like a Bruce Lee power punch. His older brother was standing three feet or so in front of him and was never physically touched. Absolute insanity ensued, Ketut's brother grabbed his chest and his head and let out a series of bone chilling, soul piercing screams. Tearing at his hair he turned 180 degrees and ran at breakneck speed down the terraced clove fields towards the cliff at the bottom of their property yelling, "I want to die, I want to die, I want to die.”
Ketut, again threw his head back, raised his hands toward the sky and started laughing, wickedly.
He boomed in a deep and diabolical voice, "I am all powerful. I have the power, nobody can beat me." In that moment he turned aggressively towards me, his eyes still contorted into slits, his pupils barely visible, and again he brought his hands to his chest in the same awkward interlocking position. This is where it really gets crazy. As soon as he squared off with me and locked his eyes with mine...I got slammed. An unseen force hit me like a bolt of lighting! There was an unbelievable power surging through my body. I didn't have time to think or react and somehow immediately began to thunder loudly in my prayer language.
Unconsciously and without premeditation, I raised both of my hands slightly above my head and extended them fully towards Ketut and continued to thunder authoritatively in the Spirit. In the blink of an eye, without me touching him, Ketut stumbled back a few feet and collapsed to the ground. In this moment, I was still not consciously thinking and did not feel in control of my actions, everything was simply happening. I walked over to him as he lay in a convulsing heap and knelt down beside him. At this time I continued to pray in the Spirit with my hands outstretched until he stopped seizing on the ground.
The first thing he said, still lying on the ground and looking up at me was, "Hallelujah. "What, what did he just say, I thought to myself?
"Hallelujah," he said to me again in a soft and timid voice. I didn't know how to respond so I asked him why he just said "Hallelujah." He responded, "That's what you were saying over and over again, 'Hallelujah...I heard it very loudly and very clear. He continued, while you were saying "Hallelujah" I saw two giant white creatures with big wings come from above the trees and push back the red dragon that gives me power." In this moment, I was just as bewildered and absolutely mind blown as Ketut.
I helped Ketut to his feet, draped one of his arms around my neck and helped carry him back to his room in the family compound. He was absolutely drained and could barely walk. At the same time, Mangku, a Hindu priest, Ketut's brother and my best friend in the village, was helping his older brother back up the cliff to the family compound. The power that possessed him from Ketut's conjuring was now broken and he was visibly shaken and ashamed.
Once we made it back to the house, I sat Ketut down and got him some coffee. As we began to chat he told me, his gods were "bullshit" and had no power compared to my God. He was full of disappointment and self-loathing. I subsequently shared the Good News with him, told him Jesus was crazy in love with him and asked if he wanted to make Jesus his God. He said he wanted Jesus but still needed time to think about everything. He confessed he was was still afraid of the repercussions from the spirits, his ancestors and his organization. His organization translates to “The Lion Guard of the Gods.”
I wish I could finish this entry with a, "Praise God, Ketut got saved," but that is not what happened. I am not sure it is even my place to make any type of application or justification for this event. I believe my personal eyewitness backed by a solid New Testament scripture reference speaks for itself, illustrating the truth of God’s word. "And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues." - Matthew 16:17.
Although I will leave you with this, the word "Hallelujah" means "Praise the Lord" and is translated and pronounced the same in every known language in the world. When I was praying in tongues, a nonsensical and counterintuitive babel that nobody but God can understand, Ketut heard me repeating a word that means "Praise the Lord." If he asks an Indonesian follower of Jesus what “Hallelujah” means the believer will be able to tell him, it means “Praise God,” the same God he knows my family follows and shared with him and his family during our time living with them in the village.
