Entering the Cathedral Amid a Fear of Ancestral Spirits

Many Muslims live their lives in fear of evil spirits and the calamities they can bring. In the Central Asian country where I serve, we encounter this often, even among the well-educated college students we help to learn English.

After a morning of English practice and a picnic in a park, national believers take our summer team members out to see the sights of this city of one and a half million people. One of these sights is the Russian Orthodox Cathedral, a beautiful multi-colored, wooden building, built in the 1800s. A local university student took several team members to the center of the city to see a few of the sights, including the cathedral. But she was afraid to go in the cathedral herself. She told us that the spirits of her ancestors might harm her if she, a Muslim, were to set foot inside a Christian church.

We suggested that she go in for just a few minutes and look, since services were not going on at that time. Physically trembling, she did, and then later visited the fellowship of local believers (Protestants) in Jesus. She did not become a believer that summer, but I believe that the power of fear over her life was reduced. Pray that many Central Asians would come to Christ and know the power that He has over fear and death.

*Alexander Pierce is an MTW missionary serving among Muslims in Central Asia. His name has been changed for security reasons. 

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