I grew up as an Amish young girl, and when I was about four years old my mother taught me how to draw pain from the baby’s tummy.

That way she could go on and work while I watched the baby for her. I remember vividly how I sat on a little rocking chair and she was showing me how and where to place my hand on the baby’s tummy. It worked! My hand got all numb after a while, so I took it off and shook it and put it back on.

As I got older, she gave me a choice between washing dishes or holding the baby, which also meant drawing pain. Of course I would choose to hold the baby over doing dishes!

Then when I was about 14 or 15 years old, my parents went to a Mennonite “alternative medicine” doctor in Indiana to try to figure out what is wrong with the baby. He was allergic to quite a few foods. My brother just younger than I went along also, because he was not feeling well. He could no longer work a whole day. He got so dizzy that he had to lie around for half the day. Another strange thing was that he couldn’t carry a watch in his pocket. The time would get all mixed up.

They came home from Indiana saying that my brother tested for way too much electricity in his body, so therefore they bought some kind of thing that was supposedly a magnet to attach to the water line in the basement to draw out the electricity from the water before we drink it. The lady had also sold them a few bottles of homeopathic medicine. We kept wondering what this stuff really is. It tasted and looked like water, but Mom faithfully gave it to the children.

My parents had gone to an Amish Peoples’ Helpers meeting where they spoke about bondages and sin, and how to have a closer walk with the Lord. There they talked a little about witchcraft. That was the beginning of freedom from witchcraft for our family. When the next baby was born we were no longer practising drawing pain. We had renounced quite a few practices, and what a different baby we had! She was a little sunshine! It was quite different than all the problems we had faced with her brother just older. My mother noticed that after the baby was born she had great joy and freedom, nothing hindering her from completely trusting the Lord.

Our deliverance from witchcraft was furthered by hearing sermons on the subject. We also renounced some of the things our ancestors were involved in, including the keeping of a Madgeburg Letter in their Bible to ward off fire, floods, and famines. This was a letter that was supposedly dropped from heaven by an angel in Madgeburg, Germany. Whoever destroyed the letter would suffer the consequences of a plague or famine. Thankfully, my grandparents began to take a stand against this, and seeing that the letter was being held equal to the Bible, they destroyed it.

Concerning drawing pain, I had heard all the explanations on how it works with the natural electricity in our body, and how it is a gift from God. I had never even questioned if it was wrong.

One day, when I was 14 or 15, the girl I was working with told me she had been at a large Amish school meeting where one of the ministers brought up the subject of drawing pain. He felt it was witchcraft. This just put a little question mark in my mind. After a while it got to the point where every time I drew pain from the baby I wondered, “What if this is not a power of God?”

Finally I became desperate to know if it was right or wrong. I couldn’t quite shake the question out of my mind. One evening as I was getting ready to draw pain, I prayed and asked God to please show me if it is not a power from Him. “Lord, You know that I want to know if this is not from You. If it is not Your power, please don’t let it work.” And it didn’t work! So I decided it must not be from God.

But the next time I was holding the baby, all kinds of doubts came to me. “Maybe it just happened that it didn’t work.” So I tried again. This time I didn’t pray about it, and sure enough it worked.

But by the next time, I started feeling a little guilty and desperately wanted to know if it is from God or not. So I prayed again before I did it, and sure enough, it didn’t work! I thought I had learned the truth, but the next time I doubted again, but God was faithful … for the third time He didn’t let it work.

After the third time, I didn’t doubt any more. It was settled in my heart that God had kept it from working. He saw how much I was longing for truth. I was very afraid to tell Mom and Dad about drawing pain being witchcraft. I was afraid she would try and convince me differently. Almost a year went past. I was feeling very guilty and like my parents’ blood is on my hands if I don’t tell them about pain drawing being witchcraft. So I said something to Mom about it, and to my relief and amazement she said, “Yes, Dad and I recently renounced that, too.” Praise God!

We used to go to an Amish doctor that did muscle testing, and one that read people’s eyes [iridology] to say what is wrong with them. And I remember so well the day my uncle came to our house to dowse for water, because we wanted to dig a well. Little did we realize that our involvement in these forms of witchcraft was only adding to our health complications.

As God revealed these areas of witchcraft to us, we renounced each one. That thing in the basement that was hooked up to the water line started bothering me. I said something to Mom and Dad, and they also said they don’t believe in it, but nothing happened with it. Finally, I asked my brother to help me get the thing out. We took it out and smashed it. It was full of little wires. After renouncing these things, we suddenly realized that my brother can work whole days again, and he can also carry a watch. Praise the Lord! There is freedom!

In recent years, after marriage, I have again listened to the sermons explaining what witchcraft is, and told my husband how shocking it is to realize that I either know of or was involved in most of the things on the tapes. I will be eternally grateful to our God for revealing these things to me before it is eternally too late. The Lord bless you as you strive to serve ONLY our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. ~