Whole Again

She was only 17 and a believer just six months. On the first day at a new school, a man pretended to be a teacher but kidnapped her and raped her. She escaped but still was in bondage. She felt dirty but showers wouldn’t wash it away. And in her soul she felt tied to him though she didn’t want to be. She didn’t talk to anyone, not her pastor, not her classmates and rarely even to her parents. She stopped going to school and to church. Her friend came to our class and shared this story. We told her that God will heal her and we can help when she is ready. After three months, she cAmerican to Beijing and Denise and I helped her. It was hard to talk about what happened. Although Chinese people are usually very reserved in their emotions, she was not because the pain ran so deep. I told her that what this man had done was evil and wicked and that it was so awful that in Old Testament times a man had to pay for his sin with his own blood, he couldn’t offer a sacrifice for it in the temple. I encouraged her to tell God what he did in prayer, to accuse him of the evil he had done. She prayed for twenty minutes with very strong language, her soul cried out for justice. Even though this man was now in prison, it was not satisfying, so she poured her heart out. When she finished, I told her she had a very difficult decision to make, she had to decide whether to forgive him or not. I asked her why would you forgive him, even God said he deserved death. I suggested that only if she trusted her heavenly Father enough to believe that he would do justice on her behalf and that it would be satisfying, then she should forgive him, completely hand him over to her heavenly Father. It was very hard to forgive. This man had done an awful thing and she had known her heavenly Father only six months. She struggled but decided she didn’t want to carry this anymore and was willing to hand it over to Him, to let Him decide what to do with him, so she forgave. Then she asked God to heal her heart, to break the spiritual tie and to cleanse her from the spiritual defilement that she felt in her soul and He did. Three weeks later, her pastor called and asked me how did it happen that she was healed so quickly. The church had gone out together and she went with them and she was the happiest one there. Praise our God who is called Healer!

Faith is not a spectator sport -Mike Banker

I commend Lady Gaga for bringing sexual abuse of children out into the light during the Oscar Awards on Sunday night through her song. I commend those that joined her on stage to stand up against abuse and to give a voice to those still being abused. We have helped a lot of women and also some men become whole again after being spiritually, emotionally and physically violated. What they didn’t say during the Oscars is that there is hope for those who have been molested and raped to be whole again. 

-Mike Banker 2022