Life is a vapor. Don't spend yours on the sidelines.

We received a shocking report last month from our executive director at the Vapor center in Togoville, Togo. Even though we have filtered a portion of the story, for some, the following will still be hard to process.

Togoville is a rural village in West Africa that is gripped by the practice of voodoo, witchcraft and continuous sacrifices to false gods—even child sacrifices. Vapor’s staff members in Togoville recently intervened before one of these child sacrifices took a life.

The victim was a young woman who I’ll refer to as “Esther” to protect her identity. When Vapor staff members found Esther last month, she was severely malnourished, completely abandoned and very ill.

Our executive director shared Esther’s story with us:

“Can you believe that there are still people in spiritual darkness to the extent that they can sacrifice their only child to their “god” for destruction? That is the case of a young woman we have been interceding for during the past five days.”

The young woman had been entrusted with some money to run an errand for her mother, but unfortunately, Esther squandered it. Her mother became very angry. Esther was cursed, suppressed and left for dead. When Vapor staff members found her, it was almost too late.

“She could not eat or drink,” our executive director said. “She was suffering from all sorts of sores… All the members of her family fled from her because they all believed that the [voodoo] god would kill them if they assisted her.”

Vapor staff reported that when they started praying in Esther’s presence, a voice that was clearly not her own came from her and demanded for an animal sacrifice to be made. The voice named itself and declared that life would be lost if he was not appeased.

Our staff members fell on their knees and began crying out to God.

“We prayed and prayed and then… a loud shout,” he reported. “[Something] came out of her,” and then “she fell into a deep sleep.”

Vapor’s staff members ministered to Esther once she woke.

“The first thing I did was tell her that she should trust in Jesus who died for her and who will never forsake her,” our executive director explained. “We came in with medical treatment through Vapor’s humanitarian assistance.”

He reported that Esther embraced the gospel and trusted in the grace of Christ.

“Today, she started eating and drinking,” he added. “Let's praise God who is reconciling all men to himself through Christ Jesus, his Son (2 Corinthians 5:19). So let's continue praying for her total recovery and for the name of the Lord alone to be glorified.”

Many of the children who participate in Vapor’s discipleship leagues in Togoville come from families entrapped in voodoo and witchcraft, but they are now hearing about Jesus Christ at every practice and game. We praise God for the tremendous ways that he is using Vapor in Togoville to care for the “least of these” and to make disciples.

As we continue to lift up our new sister, Esther, let us also pray that the Lord would continue to mightily use our brothers and sisters in Togoville as they share and show Christ’s light in dark places.

40 centers, in 40 third-world environments, by 2017.

Life is a vapor,

Micah McElveen