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A Mission Society missionary who serves in Central Asia, Tom*, was recently attacked by a Caucasian Shepherd, the breed of dog which was used to guard the Berlin Wall. Tom was prayer walking in a neighborhood when the dog charged at him from an open garage of one of the nearby houses. The dog weighed 150 pounds and bit Tom three times.

Due to his heavy winter clothing, Tom was only wounded from one of the bites. He was treated at the emergency room and released, but still has to complete a series of rabies injections.

Tom recounts, “After trying to fend it off and yelling ‘stop’ a few times, I remembered my spiritual warfare training. I spoke Jesus’ name three times in English. The dog backed up three paces and snarled at me without advancing. It was almost as if an invisible wall of protection had been placed between us. I then commanded it in Russian in Jesus’ name to leave me alone and stated it had no power over me. The dog immediately turned and fled away from the house it came from and I never saw it again.”

Tom's wife, a talented long-distance runner, was not with him at the time of the attack. She later shared with him that she has invoked Jesus' name at least five times in similar situations when chased by dogs, and every time the dog has retreated.

After recovering from the shock of the attack, Tom was reading through Luke 10 and noted when the 72 people who had been sent out returned with joy stating that even the demons submitted to them in Jesus' name. Jesus replied that they should not rejoice that evil spirits submitted to them, but rather rejoice that their names were written in heaven. This was a strong reminder to him that power encounters such as these, while certainly an opportunity to glorify Jesus in sharing testimony of the event, should not be the focus of our joy. We need to remain focused on pointing people to Christ and not to ourselves or anything we might have done. It is then that our testimony is strongest.

*Pseudonym used for security purposes.