Conversion of a Voodoo Witch Doctor
Conversion of a Voodoo Witch Doctor Video
Testimony of a Voodoo Witch Doctor Video
Conversion of a Voodoo Witch Doctor Podcast
By Bill Rudge
In the midst of embargoes, political upheaval, excessive poverty, and oppression from voodoo, God’s Spirit still moved in a powerful way!
He was known to be the meanest man in the community... a killing machine who murdered many people through voodoo. His name was Jacques Innocent, the witch-doctor. I met him in Haiti during our 1991 outreach there. He was living with his girlfriend near the Mission Possible compound.
Except for what Lelia, my missionary interpreter, had told me, I knew little about Jacques when we first met. A few years earlier Jacques had been preparing to sacrifice a woman’s baby when Lelia rescued the child from his arms. Again I was hearing first hand about the paralyzing power of darkness. Yet I knew through years of personal experience that the power of God is greater. The awesome, transforming power of God is what this story is all about.
We met for only an hour that day, but it was enough to plant the seeds of God’s powerful truth in Jacques’ mind. I asked probing questions about voodoo; he remained elusive. So I turned instead to sharing my testimony with him.
God’s Spirit was leading me to share the love of Christ gently with him rather than to come on too strong. So I said it in love, but it was bold. I declared to him that the spirits which give him power are not gods but demons. I warned him that when the spirits which he thinks he controls have no more use for him, they will discard him like garbage. “ When they do,” I said, “the only One who is powerful enough to help you is Jesus Christ. So call on Him!”
Jacques said he was not ready to give his life to Christ, but he did want me to pray for him.
The seeds of truth were planted. During the following two years they were watered by Bettie, director of Mission Possible, who greeted Jacques with “Jesus loves you!” whenever they met. The Lord was working on Jacques’ hardened heart to the point that when Bettie told him I was coming back to Haiti he got excited! So shortly after we arrived, Jacques came to the mission compound to see me.
The following is an excerpt from the account of Bob Davis, part of the Haiti II Outreach team:
“On Tuesday night, as I was going into my room to get my Bible, I ran into a really tall man. Not realizing who he was, I began to talk to him and shake his hand. I led him to David Graban who remembered him from two years ago. He was the witch-doctor, Jacques, who practiced voodoo in the village. David then took Jacques to meet Bill.”
The next day I went to his hut to see him. After talking for a while I told him I would come back the same time tomorrow and we would have a Bible study together. I didn’t want to push him too fast, but he called me back to pray. So during the prayer I talked about the power of Christ being greater than the power of voodoo. Together we renounced Jacques’ past voodoo involvement.
Karen Rudge states the following:
“I started to pray outside the hut by B.J.. All of a sudden a strong presence hit me and almost knocked me over. I felt it was evil and heavy. I started to quote Scripture and a peace came over me and I prayed a hedge of protection around the whole hut and all of us. Later David told me he felt a presence of peace enter the hut where they were praying with Jacques.”
By this time his hut was surrounded by people looking in some of the men had mean glares on their faces. While all this was going on in the hut, to keep the children outside from disturbing us, Tabitha and B. J. Rudge and Heather Brown played with them using balloons and bubbles.
Jacques lit a candle in the dark inner room of his hut and began to gather all his voodoo pictures, fetishes, leaves, and other items to burn. The Spirit of God was so powerful in that little room that I fell to my knees. Simultaneously everyone with me fell to their knees as I prayed a prayer to dedicate that hut to the Lord.
My interpreter, Rosemond, took the voodoo items outside to burn. By now almost 100 villagers were gathered around. Jacques went back in his hut and even brought out the stand his voodoo materials were on. Rosemond got some dried grass and found a neighbor with a lighter and burned them.
Jacques went back in and had Bob dig up some bottles. An inverted cross in his yard was burned. Jacques even pulled out an aloe vera plant he used for herbal medicine and spells, and cast it in the fire.
I have never felt God’s power so great. It was like a chapter out of the book of Acts.
I said through the interpreter to the people gathered around Jacques’ hut, “ You may want to know what has happened this day. The God who created the heavens and the earth has revealed Himself to Jacques the witch-doctor and Jacques has given Him his life.”
Tabitha remembers:
“As we were praying I looked around me and noticed how mad and upset many people were talking loudly, raising their hands in the air, going from person to person. Toni Davis and I saw one man pick up a lead pipe and two others with machetes ran over. Their nostrils and eyes were inflamed with rage and hatred. I began to pray for God’s protection. I could see the fear in Jacques, but as dad spoke, you could tell Jacques was getting peace from his words.”
I am sure Satan’s plan was for them to kill me, the interpreter, and Jacques, and thereby put an end to all of this, but God protected. Besides, His presence was so real I had no fear at all.
After finishing my message and sharing the truth and reality of Christ and their need to accept Him, I said, “All who want to have the courage Jacques had to accept Christ, raise your hand.” I raised mine and so did all those with me and so did most of the women, all of the children, and some of the men. But many men stood there with hate in their eyes. I knew Jacques might be greatly persecuted or even killed, so I told the people that I would hold a Bible study the next day at the same time. I went to the two meanest looking men and said that I hoped they would come. They said they would.
Bettie told me the whole village and community were talking about it. Later that night Jacques came to the mission compound on his own and joined in the singing. Everyone at the mission compound praised and thanked the Lord for this tangible miracle.
After Bible study at Jacques’ hut the next day, I had our group split into three teams, each group with its own interpreter. We went into the nearby villages to minister. We all had great experiences!
Jacques said that God began dealing with his heart two years ago, after I talked to him. Then on Wednesday, March 10, 1993, he made his final decision to give his life to Christ when he burned everything. Bettie said this was the greatest miracle they had seen this year.
We learned that several days earlier, Jacques had been given 35 dollars to perform a voodoo ceremony for someone. But when he converted, he said he would not do it and that he would pay back the 35 dollars. Jacques is a different man.
A pastor from the Salvation Army, Renaud Boisrond, who also began to help disciple Jacques, states the following:
“I dropped by to see Jacques a few days after his conversion. Jacques had been lying on his bed smoking so I told him I hoped he would be strong for the Lord and this would be his last cigarette. Jacques said he had one cigarette left and gave it to me. He is growing amazingly fast!”
Other than a fax from Haiti concerning the excitement generated at Mission Possible about Jacques’ conversion, I did not hear about Jacques for several weeks. I greatly missed him and my heart longed to see him again, and I wanted to know how he was doing with the Lord.
I could identify with Paul who said:
“Out of our intense longing we made every effort to see you. For this reason, when I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith. I was afraid that in some way the tempter might have tempted you and our efforts might have been useless. But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us, just as we also long to see you. Therefore, brothers, in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith. How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you? Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith” (I Thes. 2:17; 3:5-10).
My heart rejoiced as I was informed that Jacques is growing in the Lord and reading his Bible daily and going to devotions every day at the mission compound.
Toni Davis tells of an experience she and her husband Bob had upon returning to Haiti a few months after Jacques’ conversion:
“Being a former voodoo priest, Jacques was known everywhere we went. People had a sense of fear, yet respect for him.
A little boy came running up the way toward us. As he got closer we could hear him yelling “papa.” Jacques’ littlest boy hung onto his leg and as he looked up at this very tall and slender man you could see his love. Jacques reached down and picked him up and played with his hair. To think that just four months ago this man used voodoo to harm many people. It was unbelievable.”
A Glorious Report!
The air was thick and heavy as the bonfire burned brightly behind the compound. The gods of voodoo were being burned up.
For miles around, people were talking and gathering toward the site of the fire. He’s been converted!
After hearing this report of the dreaded witch-doctor Jacques Innocent, some came to the place with great joy, others with machetes. What a miracle!
The last time Bill Rudge was here was two years ago. At that time he asked me to get him an interview with the witch-doctor that sometimes tried to torment us. This man had been known to be vicious, even a killer.
Bill asked him some questions, told him that he loved him and so did Jesus, and that he would pray for him.
From that time on when I would see him, I would stop and greet him. Sometimes he would respond, other times not.
When Bill came back this week, along with a group, he asked again to see Jacques, so I arranged it. When they met again, Bill talked to him about the Lord. He accepted Jesus with tears of joy. Jacques remembered the man who took time for him. He said that God had been working on him since that time.
The bonfire was his statement to the community that he had made his choice. He burned cards, jugs of potions, beads, feathers, and pictures. The last thing to go was an aloe plant in his yard. He used it for the basis of his potions. When all the things were burned, the display of God’s power was awesome.
When our Haitian helpers heard the news, they danced in the kitchen singing, ‘Jacques is converted! Jacques is converted!’
A Mission Possible fax to Dick Spayd in Florida titled, “Witch-Doctor Saved In Haiti,” from Bettie Snyder
Dear Bill,
I want to greet you in the name of Jesus. I love you very much and I know that God loves you too. I want to thank you very much because you came to Haiti. As a result of your coming I came to know the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior.
Now let me tell you as you already know, the Christian pathway is not an easy one. I have to give up all things to follow Jesus, even the way I used to make money to survive. Sometimes the devil is tempting me when I don’t have any money. Still I choose Jesus.
Yours In Christ,
Jacques Innocent
In May of 1993, I received the above letter from Jacques.
Dick Spayd, Vice President of Resource and Development at Mission Possible’s Florida office comments:
“After meeting Jacques and observing his presence at the disciple’s devotion period in the compound each morning, and also the way he worked with the other Haitians as they loaded our truck with food for our feeding stations, I was excited. He not only did his part but when he saw something to be done, he did it without having to be told. He was always very helpful and courteous to members of our tour groups and he always had a smile on his face.
A week or so before I arrived in Haiti Jacques had been sick and one of our other disciples went to his hut to pray for him. While there the disciple asked Jacques if his mother [who had recently moved in with him] was saved and when he said no, the disciple asked if he could talk with her. That was fine with Jacques and when the disciple shared with her, she immediately wanted what Jacques had, as she had observed the change in her son.
We delivered food to one of our feeding stations way out in the wasteland and then had a time of teaching and sharing with the local people. Jacques gave his testimony by saying, ‘If there are any of you who do not know me, it is because you have not been here long. This was my district as a witch-doctor. You looked to me as your god, but I am here to tell you that I am not your god.’ Then he pointed his hand toward heaven and said, ‘My God and your God is up there.’ He then proceeded to share what happened to him and how his conversion has affected his life. Right after his testimony at one of the villages, a Haitian man came up to Jacques and the pastor that had accompanied us and said he wanted what Jacques had.
I have no doubt that Jacques’ conversion will change many lives in Haiti and there will be many Haitians in heaven as a result.
We at Mission Possible thank Bill Rudge for his obedience to come back to Haiti to finish what he and the Lord started with Jacques.”
“Shout with joy to God, all the earth! Sing the glory of His name; make His praise glorious! Come and see what God has done, how awesome His works in man’s behalf” (Psalm 66:1,2,5)!
