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Editors Note: This is a personal testament of the current battle waged and victory received in Jesus. Through sponsorship of
our government programs of “reestablishing Native culture” this spiritual darkness is on the rise all over Alaska. As will be seen, not all aspects of these cultures are good. Veronica writes passionately in English even though she first thinks in Yupik.
 
 
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Here is her first hand account. TB Spiritual Battle Over My Soul
© Copyright 2007 By Veronica Barrett
 
The feeling is cold and intimidating-- whenever the spirit of fear attaches to my body, regurgitation is the only relief I get after praying in Jesus’ name to rebuke and get rid of it. One friend who understands what I go through told me today to do just that and validated to me I’m doing the right thing. For too long, the adversary had a heyday with my life and my families’
lives. Curses are common daily occurrences among my people. Some curses are words against people. You say specific words against whoever you want to harm or kill and make a deal with the devil to follow through with what you have said, or you do some sort of ritual to appease demons.
The verse in Proverbs 18:21 in The New English Bible says, “The tongue has the power of life and death; make friends
with it and enjoy its fruit.” Other curses are through rituals similar to the witches and warlock type of curses. These past 29 years my family has dealt with curses that 1 the devil has used to try to destroy each member of my family as well as our family as a whole. In John 10:10 the bible says: “The thief comes only to steal, to kill, and to destroy.” The thief is the devil who has tried to destroy my family and me. In the same verse Jesus says,” He came that men may have life, and may have it in its fullness.” Jesus is the good shepherd who laid
down his life for people, by pouring out His blood as an offering to forgive our sins, deliver us from any bondage, and
overcome Satan by His blood. This is the power of the blood of Jesus.
Going back to the beginning of all these curses: In January, 1949, my parents, cooperated with a relative, who happened
to be a shaman, to dedicate their future child to the demons in exchange for having a child who will live. A year earlier, they had lost a son when he was about two months old. In their grief over losing a child, they consulted with this shaman as
to how they were going to carry on their tradition of passing on their inheritance since this was the second marriage for
both. In Yupik Eskimo tradition, the youngest child inherits everything the parents have; that is, spiritually and materially.
They needed an heir and both were desperate for help and saw this way as the only way to pass on their ways. A special
song was made by this shaman; my mother was made to hold a bird’s nest and my parents danced to this song together. From my mother’s recollections, she remembers a cold feeling come over her as the shaman dedicated this couple to be caretakers for this child. Two months later, she got pregnant
and on November 3, 1949, I was born.

She always attributed her health problems to listening to the shaman against her better judgment, because years earlier she had accepted Jesus as her Savior before she met my father. She knew in her heart what she was doing was not right, but in her desperation for a child and lack of knowledge of the bible she listened to her husband and the shaman. Some years later, she was diagnosed with severe rheumatoid arthritis. This belief of being cursed with sickness stems from the Eskimo native religion doctrine that when you make a deal with the devil you pay for it by getting some sort of ailment in exchange for some gift for which you may have asked. In our area, the lower Yukon River delta, we have a name for this god: “cellam-yua”. The literal translation is the sky’s person.

Other translations are “person of the air” or “power of the air.” Ephesians 2:2 in The Living Bible translation says, “You went
along with the crowd and were just like all the others, full of sin, obeying Satan, the mighty prince of the power of the air, who is at work right now in the hearts of those who are against the Lord.” Rituals were performed to ensure that I would live (fear is the motivating factor in these rituals
because the devil operates in that atmosphere.)
Growing up, I remember my father watching over my safety always fearful that something would happen to me when he was not watching me. My having almost drowned three different times, contracting mono, and having serious problems from having my tonsils removed reinforced his fears that the one who supposedly brought me to life was out to kill me. Since I’ve been saved, I have learned that before I was formed that God knew me; Jeremiah 1:5 (KJV). In spring of 1978, Satan again tried to kill me by using a shaman from near my village of Emmonak, Alaska. This woman shaman came to me in a dream, handed me two shrunken skulls in a form of dance fans; I took the fans and they stuck to my fingers
and started to blend into my hands. At the same time I noticed I was sinking into the ground. During this time, the shaman was
calling on evil spirits to kill me and I was getting very frightened because I knew I was going to die if something wasn’t done.
I called out for help and nothing was happening. Finally, I uttered the name of Jesus and immediately the fans came loose
 
I threw them back at the shaman and woke up. At the time my husband, son and I were staying at my father’s house while
we’re fixing up a place to live, in the village. Immediately, I told my father about the dream and he became very afraid and
said that the shaman would kill me if she is stronger than I am spiritually. I answered him by saying that my God is bigger than this shaman and that my life is in God’s Hands. While we’re discussing this dream, my brother came into the house to tell us that this shaman’s son-in-law died suddenly during the night. My father then turned his attention on me and asked if I’ve become a shaman and wondered out aloud if I was stronger, spiritually, than this woman. I said that God is the one who stands for people who believe in Him and protects us from the evil one. From this experience my father started paying attention to what I said about this God who is merciful, compassionate and forgiving.

Having retorted to the shaman’s face that Jesus is stronger, my father, also not understanding the power in Jesus’ name, warned me that I would lose something very precious for my pride in mocking the power of the shaman. Although the
attempt to kill me failed, right afterward, I lost all my hair, and am without hair even to this day. Such has been the intensity of the battle over my soul. Before my father accepted Jesus,
he couldn’t utter the name of Jesus. He gloriously got saved March 10, 1987, marveling daily that he was free from the spirit
of fear that had afflicted him most of his 83 years. I believe the devil tries to kill anyone who has a future of declaring the
praises of God.

We all have that capability! We just need to answer the call of God that He, God, has chosen us and ordained us, that
we should go and bear fruit, and that our fruit should remain as spoken in John 15:16 (KJV).

All these years I’ve dealt with the spirit of fear, sometimes losing, other times having victory over it. I lean heavily on
the verse in 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
(KJV)” Dealing with the spirit of fear has been an ongoing process for me. It is through learning that “with God all things
are possible” that God in Christ Jesus has given me victory. I believe with all my heart, the curse of death is broken simply
based on the word of God that says in Galatians 3:13-14, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree’: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ: that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (KJV)” Through all these years, my family and I have gone through many trials
and tribulations, and I’ve learned that it’s best to lean on God Almighty through Jesus Christ who is “the way, the truth and
the life,” as is the claim in the Bible.

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