Tony Loeffler comments on his experiences in Cuba

Tony Loeffler

Have you ever had unwelcome company either at home or in a business setting and the person who intruded seemed to catch on and would say something like, "OK, I see you are busy, I'll stop back later." Or, they would make some other excuse to deal with their interruption. Well this happened to me in the country of Cuba while doing a pastor's conference. The only difference was that the interruption was from a demon working through a woman. At times like that, demons need to be thrown out and not politely asked to leave.

In spite of this slightly uncomfortable event, I still like traveling to the country of Cuba. I find it to be an interesting country. Just like any nation, there are many things that they do wrong and there are some things that they do right. Now I know there are people who would want to kill me for making a comment like that about Cuba but just take for example their national security program. They could probably teach the USA and many other nations something about that topic.

During the past six years of ministry in Cuba I have often felt a little helpless in communicating because I don't speak the language very well and it is a whole new culture for me. Some folks have warned me that Witchcraft and Santeria were the prominent religions there and I just couldn't imagine myself trying to break through the language barrier if some demon spirit were to get out of control. It was a good thing that I know that these foul demonic spirits were subject to my authority in Jesus Christ. I had learned this from previous experiences in other countries. But in those countries the people spoke English and so I wrestled with the question, what happens if I can't communicate in the native language?

Well up until that pastor's conference there was never much of a problem other than some opposition in the spirit realm with the spirit of control, lying, manipulation and deceit. There was never a physical encounter or outburst of any kind. Oh, we had our share of frustration but there were no other manifestations that I can remember. That is, not until 2004 when that pastor's conference came to an end and we were having a praise and worship celebration for the community. Demons just don't seem to enjoy those celebrations.

In one town named La Lisa, we were told that seventeen witchcraft people killed themselves and six had repented and received the Lord in a period of twelve days. I don't wish death on anyone as I much prefer life and freedom in Christ to darkness and death. But sometimes, the results are not what we prefer. They are more often caused by the poor choices that people make.

The background information that I was given about the town of La Lisa was that the church had been praising the Lord, fasting, praying and trusting God to clean up the neighborhood. Whether or not this had anything to do with a message I preached in this church a few months before, I don't know. But my message was from the book of 2 Chronicles, chapter 20.

My main point in sharing this passage was to share the power of praise and to talk about the feeling of being fearful. I just couldn't imagine what it was like to be a resident of Cuba and enter into the forgiveness and freedom of the Gospel and to still have to continue day by day in that system.

Every time I ministered in this little church I really appreciated their commitment to the Lord. Little did I know at the time, but this town was infested with Witchcraft! This explained to me why they were always concerned about me traveling by myself in a taxi to their town.

Since fear was such a dominant feeling in Cuba it was important for the Cubans to understand that fear doesn't disqualify anyone from being a person of faith and a good servant of the Lord. In verse three of that text it says, "And Jehosaphat was afraid and turned his attention to seek the Lord." The fact that fear came to Jehosaphat was not even an issue because of what he did with his fear. That is what really counts. Fear is never the problem; it is what you do with it that counts. In this case, Jehosaphat turned his attention to seek the Lord. And of course, that is where things really begin to change and still do.

As Jehosophat turns to the Lord, he acknowledges in verse six that the Lord is the God of their fathers. He also says that the Lord is the God in the heavens and that He is the ruler of all the kingdoms of the nations. In addition he says, "Power and might are in your hand so that no one could stand against you." So that kind of set the right perspective. The Lord is mighty and in control of the nations!

As I continued sharing scripture that night as I preached in La Lisa, I mentioned verse 15 where it says, "thus says the Lord to you, do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but Gods." I thought to myself as I was speaking, "This is so simple, it's difficult."

Going further in our text, I commented on verse 23, where it tells us that the enemy destroyed themselves. What a story! What an encouragement this had to be to the people of Cuba who have been so shattered with fear all of their lives.

Little did they know that a few months after this message they simply executed the story in real time as those seventeen witchcraft people killed themselves and six repented and received the Lord in twelve days. The Lord says He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow and still performs the miraculous.

And, little did I know that on the night of our pastor's conference that we too would experience the power of God in "real time' as that demon was dealt with in that meeting. As that demon decided to make its presence known, we too were enjoying our worship to the Lord, reflecting on all that the Lord was doing. Visitors were welcome to enjoy this special evening of praise and celebration. As the night went on some people started to come forward for prayer and ministry. That is when the demon had enough.

It happened all of a sudden and without notice or warning. This woman started swinging her fists in every direction and entirely disrupted the service. At this point the Holy Spirit inside me wasn't about to tolerate any foul unclean spirit like this at a moment of praise and worship. I was overcome with righteous indignation and was about to address the problem. However, she only spoke Spanish and that was one of my greatest concerns.

So here I was in the confrontation I feared the most, dealing with a demon spirit in a foreign language. Well, before I had a chance to even get the words to my mouth that spirit knew to leave as I approached and it said to me, "I'm leaving, I'm leaving." And guess what? It did and with a screech!

If I had the chance, I would have said, "You better believe you're leaving." But, somehow this evil spirit knew what I was about to do. Everything I was doing was in the spirit and this evil spirit somehow knew it. Spanish and English didn't seem to matter, although the response of this demon in English is what made me laugh about the event a few hours later.

So the thing that seemed to be an initial problem turned out to be a tremendous revelation to me in that the spirits are not bound by language or culture. After all, think about it. They are spirits. They simply hide behind cultures and languages. Be bold, be brave and don't let any unclean spirit interrupt your day.