Visions seen by Karen Bible Students in Thailand
By Dave Brodie, Youth With a Mission Honolulu - Teaching outreach to Asia, Fall 2003
During the week of October 20-23, 2003 I taught at the Nah-Bo Bible School in the village of Nah-Bo Thailand about 1.5 hours north of Mae Sot right on the Burma Border. It is not a YWAM school, but a couple of YWAM workers I know in Thailand are helping teach there sometimes and supporting the school in some practical ways. The students in the school are Karen people. Many of the Karen people are Christians and have been persecuted in Burma and so over the years have fled to Thailand.
I taught on evangelism there, and to illustrate the reality of eternity I read an account to the students of some children in a Christian orphanage in China in the early 1900s who saw visions of Heaven and Hell. The missionaries who ran the orphanage did not see the visions, but they saw the children as they were in the visions and described what they saw. They could see the children looking down while describing the lake of fire in Hell and also worshipping together and meeting Jesus in Heaven. The children saw many things from the Bible as well. The visions were published in a popular book called “Visions Beyond the Veil” by H.A. Baker, which is available at many Christian bookstores or can be viewed online at http://www.thebiblerevival.com/teachings/books/0006/
At the beginning of the week I taught, a lady who lived across the street from the Bible College committed suicide. This was followed in the usual way by 2 days of wailing and mournful songs all night and then 2 nights of people watching videos in the street with lots of smoking and also gambling. This brought an oppressive sort of atmosphere to the village so the students had some late night prayer meetings.
During these meetings the Holy Spirit came strongly upon four of the student girls and they saw visions similar to the ones I shared about! I witnessed 3 of the girls having the visions at one of these meetings and as they spoke in the vision, the school leader interpreted all what they said into English for me. As the girls were in the visions they were oblivious to their surroundings. First they would usually encounter demonic powers. We would see them kicking and punching when fighting them. Everyone was careful to stay out of their way! They would ask for a sword and other students would hand them a Bible, which they would use like a sword or throw at the demons.
When they had the visions of heaven we could see them laying on the ground with their eyes closed, clapping, singing songs they had never learned, or even going through the motions of smelling flowers. We could hear what they were saying as they talked to Jesus.
DEMONS
One girl said she encountered what appeared to be a female demon. It said, “This territory belongs to me. I will get back every student because they are mine. You know I got one already” (One student who had attended that Bible college had committed suicide a few years ago.) The girl replied, “They are not yours, they are God’s children!”
The demons varied in size. These girls said that one demon was so big that just one of his legs was as big as one of the girls! However the girls fought the demons in a coordinated effort and communicated with each other constantly, even though physically they were in different parts of the room. We could hear one girl saying things like “You get that demon on the left!”
One demon had four heads with big horns and ears. It was carrying four knives. It came to fight one of the girls in the vision. This demon had a special task – to put discouragement in the hearts of people so they kill themselves. (Indeed one person I met who had lived in the village of Nah-Bo (population 1,000) a long time said that he himself knew of 15-16 people who had killed themselves in the past 10 years.) The girl said to this demon, “You come to fight me but I will not fight with my own strength. I fight with the strength of God.” She then went on to cut off two of the heads but he kept fighting. She then started getting tired. But then a sword came down from heaven for her and gave her strength. She then defeated it. Her and the other girls were able to kill all of the demons they came up against. After the demons died, the girls would check the bodies and find only bones left. They would then step on the bones, which disintegrated into dust.
One girl found herself wrestling with Satan. She was fighting him with a stick that she had in her hand but that did not work. She then got a Bible. She hit Satan with it and the word worked. She defeated the Devil and then Jesus appeared to her and said, “Say Hallelujah! You know every demon will be underneath my feet.”
HELL The roads to Heaven and Hell were seen. The road to Heaven was neat and ordered, while the road to Hell was rusty.
Hell was a wide dark pit. The bottom was a mix of dust, water and worms. There was fire with smoke coming out of the pit. Many people were inside. Many people gathered around outside the pit. Those who did not love the Lord all fell in. Those who did love the Lord were saved and prevented from falling in. Jesus told the girls, “Don’t get too close to the edge.”
The woman across the street who had committed suicide was in Hell. She was a Christian at least nominally. No one from the Bible school knew her so they did not know if she was a true believer. When asked why she was there they were told, “She destroyed the temple of the Holy Spirit.” They also saw the Bible School student who had committed suicide years before. They asked why he committed suicide and were told “Self pity and negative thoughts. He opened the door to the Devil.”
One girl as she saw a vision of Hell looked downward as we heard her say, “No, I cannot help you. Many came to preach the gospel to you but you rejected it. It’s now too late.” Someone in Hell asked her for some water. She said, “No, I cannot give you any water. There is a great chasm separating us.” She later said, “Every time I come here you keep asking me for water!”
HEAVEN
The girls found themselves going beyond the first heaven. As they looked back they could see the Earth, Moon, Oceans and Hell. They went up to the third heaven.
Heaven was a happy and joyful place. Everything was holy and beautiful. The streets were made of gold and everything was perfect. There were many trees which all were perfectly green with no browning of any of the leaves. Flowers grew there. We watched the girls as they went through the motions of picking and smelling the flowers, and then commenting on the wonderful aroma. Angels were there. They wore white and shone very bright and were in unity praising God.
There was a student in the Bible School named Samuel who had died June 15 (about 4 months before) shortly after entering the hospital with a skin disease. The girls all met Samuel in Heaven! He was often mentioned. In fact, while these visions were going on, some of the students ran and got Samuels mother, who happened to live nearby, so she could hear the girls talking to Samuel! The girls told Samuel why he had died so quickly. He asked about the new students who had joined the school after he died. They told him their Thai and Karen names. God the Father told Samuel to get all the girls crowns and he did so.
Samuel talked to one of the girls in English even though she did not speak it. He said it would be useful for her to learn English. The others said, “She knows some.” However she never spoke English at all! Then we heard her saying in English, “Hello! How are you? Good morning!”
They saw Jesus in Heaven, wearing white and a crown. They said he looked similar to the pictures drawn of him and that he had long hair. One girl said Jesus once played the guitar while she and Samuel clapped their hands. Usually worship was done with many instruments, which the girls said were not like the ones on earth. The songs were different as well. They were sweet. The students were playing their instruments while God was seated upon his throne with a smiling face. During this time, as they lay on the floor, we could hear the girls singing unfamiliar songs and one was making tune noises as if playing an instrument as they clapped their hands. Sometimes they rolled on the floor and laughed with joyful delight.
JESUS
Sometimes in the visions the girls were able to converse with Jesus and ask him questions at times.
The Bible School will have an outreach in December so they asked Jesus how many teams to split into and where to go. He said to have only one team and named the Karen refugee camp they should go to. He said that they would see many signs and wonders.
To one girl the Lord mentioned Egobo, a former leader and teacher of the Bible School, who left years ago to move to Bangkok to make money. The girl did not know him. The Lord said “You need to go talk to this man.” He went on to say that Egobo was living a life of sin, having gotten into sexual immorality, drinking and drugs. The Lord was crying, so grieved he was over Egobo’s sin. The girl asked, “Where is he now?” The Lord said, “He is in a bar.” (These main facts turned out to be confirmed true. The local pastor said that Egobo had left his wife, was not in communication with her, and had heard he was in sin.) The Lord went on to say, “When he taught in the Bible School there was no revival. There were not many students and there were lots of problems. But now under the present leadership there is revival.” “What was the difference?” the girl asked. The Lord replied, “The one who serves me now wholeheartedly and fully gave his life.”
One of the girls asked why Jesus had touched her in the Spirit and gave her this vision, and not a certain other student. Jesus said that the other student had a hard heart, and that if he did not soften his heart he would not pass the test (the present test of being able to finish the Bible School).
Jesus told one of the girls, “Now you are studying my Word. Study very hard. Dedicate yourself fully.” He also said, “False prophets and false teachers will arise. They come in my name but they are not true.”
“Why are there denominations?” Jesus was asked. “They interpret different scripture meanings. People choose what they like.”
“Are there denominations in Heaven?” “There are no denominations in Heaven. Only my sons and daughters who glorify my name.”
One girl saw the tree of Life in heaven and asked why it was there. Jesus replied that on Earth there is sin and many problems, and that if people touch the tree, it will heal and change their thinking.
Jesus also told them, “Peace will come to Burma soon.”
REVIVAL
One girl saw the local head monk come to her interested in the gospel and so she gave him a Bible.
The village has some big trees. Sometimes they are worshipped. Sometimes if couple wants to have a child they will sometimes come to the biggest tree and give it an offering. In the vision Jesus and Samuel said something like, “The big trees – people are worshipping them and sacrificing chickens. One day those trees need to be cut down. After they are cut down, people will come here [to the Bible School building] and praise God. There will be so many people that there will be no room to sit. Many will get baptized.”
They saw a vision of the present Bible School leader, Check, with a dove on each of his shoulders. Later they saw a vision of him leading the others in bringing in the harvest. Check said, “There is no time for rest! The harvest is too great. We need to hurry.” Others were seen stealing part of the harvest. Check told them, “Do not steal. Do your part.”
They saw a vision of many people coming to their Bible School grounds for gospel meetings, and the local pastor baptizing many people in the river.
It looks like there will be great revival amongst the Karen people soon. Acts 2:17-18 says that in the last days young people will see visions. These visions help us all get a glimpse of the spiritual realm and eternity.
I will always remember seeing a dear beggar woman sitting on the gravel road in a busy street area, surrounded by people busily buying and selling items. As I looked into her eyes I felt that we should stop and pay attention to her. We knelt down and worked out using hand motions that she could not walk. We laid our hands on her and prayed for her healing. We asked her if she would like to stand up and walk. With our help she stood up, and as her face lit up with a large smile and as tears streamed down her face she took a few steps.
We sat down next to her on a curb amongst a large crowd which had developed to witness the miracle. Through a long process of speaking through a translator from English, to Hindi, then to Telegu, we were able to explain to her that God had healed her and that He loved her and wanted to come into her heart. As she prayed a prayer asking Jesus to come into her heart she looked upwards and gave thanks. It was an incredible moment.
Before one of our open-air meeting one day, we asked the Lord what he wanted to do in that Particular meeting. As we waited on the Lord during our prayer time, we sensed that he wanted to heal people that afternoon. Among other things, we sensed Him telling us that there were some blind eyes he wanted to open.
After the preaching, we read the list of of things that God had told us he wanted to do at that meeting. Then people started coming forward. I was praying that day with Wendy who was an 18 year old from Colorado. An older lady came over to us for prayer.
We asked the translator what was wrong and we found out that she was blind. We looked at each other and said "oh, no!" (It was a good thing that the lady couldn't speak English!)
We then prayed for her and soon the lady said something to the translator - she could see in her right eye! I asked Wendy what we should do next, and she said "I don't know." I said, "Why don't we pray for the other eye?" So we did. We prayed and asked God to complete the work.
The lady then began to squeeze our hands very tightly. The translator said she could now see out of both of her eyes!
A DTS team of 5 were in Sumba working with a local church who were reaching the Merapu people - an anamist group on the island, who have very unusual rituals associated with death and the worship of demons.
Two of the pastors collected us in a four wheel drive vehicle and took us out into the bush. On the way there the pastor told us about the village where we were going, and that the last two pastors who went in there were totally rejected. This was not inspirational!
We got to the end of the track and then finished the journey on foot and walked into the village. One of the pastors led us up to an old man who appeared to one of he village elders. He was sitting cross-legged and by the look of his calf muscles you could tell he had not walked in many years; they were just skin and bone.
The pastor asked us to pray for that man. The team leader first shared the gospel with the man using two interpreters - English to Indonesian to Merapu. This took a while, but the man understood it all. The team leader asked him - "Do you believe that Jesus can heal you here and now?", and the man replied, "Yes, I do."
So we all gathered around him a cried out to God to heal him. After 10 minutes of prayer the team leader felt led to say out, "In the name of Jesus get up and walk!" - and at that, the man got up on his own and began to walk. Walking slowly at first, and then quicker, he set off around the village with people following, laughing and pointing at what had happened in amazement!
After 10 minutes or so we invited the village to all listen to the gospel. So they got some mats and all sat down in front of the team as the gospel was preached and 77 people also gave their lives to the Lord that evening! God moved in power and the people responded. The pastors now have plans to have a permanent church in this village were there was none before.
Our FEET Evangelism team was working with a local Kathmandu church during a time when it was still illegal to evangelize or to convert someone to Christianity. However this church was led by an amazing Christian missionary, who was known for being occasionally radical and taking risks. There was a town not too far away that the church had targeted in prayer. They offered us a bus, a driver and an opportunity to go to this village. They told us that if we felt led of God, we could go there and do drama and preach the gospel.
Our team prayed together and asked God if this was His will. We knew it was against the law, and if caught, we could even be thrown in prison. The majority of our group felt it was right! So, off we went with the loaned bus, a 14 year old Christian boy named Peter who would translate for us, and a bus driver named Sunjay, a non Christian.
We arrived in the village and were bombarded with people wanting to see the strange looking foreigners. After our drama, we preached the Gospel and asked if any believed. No one responded, but the Lord began giving us words of knowledge, which we called out over the microphone. Sick people and others began coming forward, responding to the words we were giving.
As we began to pray, the Lord began to heal! Deaf ears were opened and sick people were recovering! As they were being healed, they testified of what happened over the microphone. Soon, the healed ones rushed home to drag their sick family members to be prayed for by the people believing in Jesus!
It was incredible. we were overwhelmed and poor Peter (our only translator) was being pulled in twelve directions. We finally asked Sunjay to help us translate (although he was not a Christian, we needed all the help we could get.)
It was with great satisfaction and exhaustion that we drove out of the village the next day. We were all sharing our stories with each other, awed at God's power in that place.
That was enough right there, but...
Several days later, our team was waiting for our flight to board at Kathmandu airport. There was was a stirring in the crowd at Immigration, and suddenly we saw the pastor we had worked with come through with special permission to speak with us before we departed. The pastor had been told of all that had happened in the village and was very excited to speak with us.
"I didn't know that Sanjay translated for you in the village!" the pastor exclaimed. "Yes," we said, "Sanjay did a very good job and we needed his help." The pastor smiled at us and said, "Sanjay does not speak English!" We all frowned and shook our heads, "Yes, he did, he spoke English all day. In fact, he translated detailed things for us!" The pastor laughed and said, "No, you don't understand. Sanjay can speak NO English."
Apparently, after returning to the church, Sanjay told what had happened. Not really a Christian, he had been amazed at the healing he saw. In the midst of it all, the Lord touched his tongue, and the young man who spoke not a word of English translated for us in perfect English all day long. He was so overwhelmed at what he had seen, he believed in Jesus!
We would not even have known of this wonderful miracle, had not this pastor come to share with us before we left Nepal.
After a week in India I had a dream that I was preaching a sermon to a congregation in America about suffering and the reality of it and how we need to drink of the same cup that He did. I woke up still preaching this sermon (out loud) and I just forgot about it and continued on with my day. Later on that day I was reminded of the dream and started to write it down. I came up with a pretty powerful message, but my mind was to preach it in America.
The very next week we were on our way to a church (Grace Paul's) that I was preaching at. I had a message prepared (not the message in the dream) and I was telling James about it (a long term missionary friend ). I also told him of the dream that I had about the "suffering sermon". James told me that whenever God gives him a message like that he uses it the very next time that he was able. So I thought about it and thought he was right. However when we arrived at the church a miscommunication had happened and another preacher was there and I didn't get to preach.
So the very next week I came back to the same church and gave the message that God had given me in a dream a few weeks ago. I thought it went pretty well and I felt the Spirit moving through the words I was relaying to the Indian people. So we left and I didn't think anything of the message and went about the rest of the outreach.
Two days before we left Rhonda (a team member) was talking with Grace Paul (her name is Grace Paul because her name is Grace and her deceased husbands name was Paul). Now Grace Paul is the pastor of this church because her husband (the former pastor) had died a few years before
Grace Paul had told Rhonda that before hearing the sermon that I had given to them, she was ready to step down from the leadership in the village because she is being tremendously persecuted. A man in the village was martyred because of his faith, and she is being threatened because she is a woman leader. As she cried and told Rhonda that because of the "suffering" message she has the strength to carry on and is prepared to endure to the end. This was a great encouragement to myself and the team, to know that just our simple obedience to God gave this woman the courage to go on.
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