BY ARISTOTLE VONTZALIDIS

We don’t often publish “miracle” stories. But we found the incidents related in this account authentic and credible. And even though they occurred several years ago, we thought it appropriate to share them with our readers.—Editors.

NE DAY SIX YEARS AGO THE telephone rang, and at the other end was Pastor Dinos Mastromihalis from Cyprus, a good friend of mine. He was inviting me to join in an evangelistic effort somewhere in the Ukraine where there was a large concentration of people with Greek roots. It would be for six weeks in August and September. Although the invitation was totally unexpected, I said yes. It was a decision that I’ve never regretted.

The city where the evangelistic effort took place was Mariupol (the city of Mary, in Greek), about 700 miles (1,130 kilometers and 21 hours by train) southeast of Kiev, Ukraine’s capital, with a population of about a half million. Anybody who has visited the former Eastern bloc will tell you that you suffer a great culture shock when you first face the unbelievable conditions under which people live. You start to count your blessings after that.

We were also to discover that there were a lot of occult activities and many satanists operating in the area. Only as we kept on the armor of God (Eph. 6:10-18) were we able to see victories for God’s glory. The cross of Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice were lifted up in our preaching, and through the power of Jesus’ blood many captives were set free.

We witnessed many miracles—the greatest of them being the radical change in many lives, as the Holy Spirit brought conviction and repentance. No fewer than 152 persons committed their lives to the Lord Jesus Christ through baptism.

THEY WERE THERE: Front row (l to r): Pastor Daniel; a newly baptized member; Pastor Aristotle Vontzalidis; Pastor Dino Mastromihalis; translator A. Sarchenko; Pastor Alex Litovchenko; and another newly baptized member. The others (in the back rows) are all part of the newly baptized members.

Though one third of those baptized were of Greek origin, they could speak only a few words of the language; for 50 years the Communist regime had suppressed and prohibited Greek from being taught in schools.

We held two meetings each day, six days a week, in two different halls. During the first stages of the campaign we had an attendance of about 1,800 in both halls, with a little more than 1,100 attending regularly during the last two weeks. We distributed more than 2,000 Bibles, including 300 children’s Bibles. It was so moving to see the eagerness of people for the Word of God.

Two of the experiences we had (and we had many others) demonstrate that God’s power is still alive today.

You Could Feel It
Tania, a young woman in her early 20s, was very depressed one night and started crying over her mother. Earlier that year her mother had had some differences with some neighbors who happened to be satanists and who proceeded to cast a spell on her. Becoming seriously ill as a result, she’d been taken to a hospital, where she lay in a coma.

We were moved, and with tears in our eyes we prayed against the satanic spell in the name of Jesus. That night we asked other believers to form a prayer chain and to lift Tania’s mother up in prayer.

When we met with Tania the following day, her face lit up with a big smile. “You will not believe it,” she said, “but about 8:30 last night [the very time we were all praying] my mother regained consciousness and improved so much that the doctors could hardly believe their eyes!” We rejoiced with her and praised the Lord exceedingly. Her mother made a wonderful recovery.

For her part, Tania also had other problems, which many times drove her to desperation, with thoughts of even ending her life. But through the ministry of Pastor Mastromihalis, with whom she had long talks, she eventually gave her heart to Jesus and was baptized.

A Terrifying Sight
One evening after the meeting while I was surrounded by people with questions, a young man from our church pulled my sleeve, calling me aside urgently to explain that behind the building was a young man who needed prayer. With three others I followed the young messenger to the back of the building to a half-lit area where I saw a terrifying scene.

Under some trees a young man named Sergi was throwing himself violently onto the ground, screaming and growling. Two other young men—Pentecostals, as I learned later—were praying over him. I could understand just two words of their prayer: “Jesus Christ.” Moving all over the place, these young Pentecostals were shouting at the top of their voices, at times being pushed around by Sergi like matchsticks.

I had encountered a demon-possessed person once before, but it was nothing like this. I confess I was terrified at first, with various thoughts crossing my mind. What should I do?

The easiest thing would have been to turn my back and leave. After all, I was not trained for this. Besides, it was getting pretty late, and the only car available was ready to take us back home. Moreover, what would the local church say if I got involved in any way? I just stood there for about five to 10 minutes watching and praying in my mind for God the Holy Spirit to strengthen me. The young man was in serious trouble. How could I turn my back on him?

Sergi continued thrashing himself around. He was in a terrible state. Though it hadn’t rained for almost six months in the area, he dug deep in the dry ground as though his fingers were made of iron, all the while growling like a wild animal.

Later I learned that among the things he was mouthing was a very direct and serious threat. “None of you will escape!” he was saying. “You will all die in a great pool of blood.” At one stage, shouting at the two young men praying over him, he said: “Get lost. Go away. You are too weak for me!”

Clearly an evil spirit was speaking through him.

At some stage the two young men, after being told I was a minister, discontinued their efforts to cast the demon out and came over to me for help. My heart was beating fast, and I was praying hard as I moved toward Sergi. “What do you want here, Jesus Christ?” he said (as I learned later). Apparently he was addressing Jesus, who was present in me through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

I lifted my hand toward him and started praying calmly in Greek and in English as the Lord directed me. The main thrust of my prayer was that in the name of Jesus Christ, and through the power of His atoning sacrifice, the evil spirit would come out of him. The other young people who were with me were also praying silently.

Sergi became increasingly calmer, and after about 10 or 15 minutes he sat down quietly, resting against the trunk of a tree, very peaceful.

At that very moment the local pastor was tooting his horn for us to leave—it was well past our time.

By the time I got in the car, I saw Sergi walking along the side of the building next to the young man who initially had called me to pray for him, and my heart was full of joy and praise. As we started our journey home, one of the young men who was present during the incident said to me through the translator: “Pastor, I didn’t know that you spoke Russian so well!”

“What do you mean?” I asked, startled by the remark.

“Well, many parts of your prayer were in very good Russian!” he said.

I was stunned, especially when the two other young men who were pres-ent verified this the next day. While it was true that I had asked God to give me the gift of languages, it being very difficult to depend on a translator all the time, I never thought He would give it to me under such circumstances. But the Lord is so good and wise. He wanted Sergi to understand my prayer and be encouraged.

Another Demonic Attack
After that incident Sergi kept attending the meetings almost every night. I had the opportunity to come to know him better and to get a few glimpses into his troubled life. And it soon became clear that even at that point he had not yet been fully delivered.

One evening as I was preaching he was seated in one of the front rows with some of our own young people. Suddenly he started making some whistling sounds and acting strangely. Promptly the young people led him out of the hall.

When I’d finished speaking, someone led me to a side room where they’d taken him. With no ventilation and with hot-water pipes running through it, the room was extremely hot. But it was not the temperature that concerned me. Rather, it was the atmosphere. It was very heavy. A demonic force was again manifesting itself through Sergi in full force. With no time to lose I started praying over him again, supported by five of our members, one of them my translator. For one and a half hours we ministered to Sergi in that room.

Keeping Praying By Aristotle VontzalIdis Even though it’s been several years now, I would request that you please pray for the church in Mariupol, Ukraine. Pastor Alexander Litovchenko is in charge of the newly established flock at the time. He is a very committed and dedicated young pastor, who went through many hard times during the Communist regime because of his faith. He and his wife are excellent musicians and are a great blessing in that area. He gave up his job as a music teacher and entered the ministry just over a year before I was invited to go over. Pastors are urgently needed in the Ukraine, as the work of the Lord is advancing very fast. In 1991 the Ukrainian Union had only 16,000 members. By 1994 that number had swelled to more than 40,000. Today the membership is approximately 60,000. The problems are many, but we serve a great God. For all the Lord did in Mariupol—and He did much more than is contained in this report—I would like to praise His holy name. God can use and is using each one of us in various ways for the advance of His kingdom. Finally, I would like to stress a very important point, a point none of us should ever forget. No matter how many people we lead to Christ, no matter how many other miracles are performed through us, no matter how many demons are cast out, unless our relationship with God is what it should be, He will not recognize us on the day of His coming (Matt. 7:21-23).

At some stage, as I was praying, a demon started speaking in a loud voice in the plural number through Sergi. “We are not going anywhere,” the demon was saying. “This is our abiding place because . . . [Sergi] has made a covenant with us.”

Now we could understand the depth of the problem. When I asked the demons how many they were, the response came in successive numbers: “One, two, three, four, five, six.”

I was then directed by the Holy Spirit to do the following. There were short periods during the session when the demons would be silent and when Sergi would begin praying very earnestly to God. So during the next “interval” I said to Sergi, “I know that you love Jesus and that you want to be delivered. You must now, therefore, break the covenant you have made with Satan.”

He agreed by nodding his head, and he repeated after me a declaration through which he was breaking his covenant with Satan and accepting in its place God’s covenant through the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

As soon as he finished speaking, he gave a loud cry and fell as though dead on the floor.

Soon he regained his senses, however, with peace returning to his heart and his face glowing with peace and joy, thanking and praising God. He had been delivered through the power of the blood.

But we soon learned that this had made somebody extremely unhappy. Within five minutes from the time we got out of that room, a young man came running to the hall looking for Sergi. It turned out that he was one of Sergi’s satanist friends whom none of us had seen before. “How dare you break your covenant with our master?” he said, grabbing Sergi by his shirt.

How did the young man know about Sergi’s new covenant? Obviously Satan had communicated the message to his subjects.

But Sergi replied firmly, “Yes, I broke the covenant, and in its place I have accepted God’s covenant through the blood of Jesus.” His friend went away disappointed. Jesus had won one more victory for the glory of His name.

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Aristotle Vontzalidis is a pastor/church planter in the South England Conference in the United Kingdom.