Mãe-de-Santo [portuguese, .f] –noun
A female priest, a voodoo priestess. It means Mother of Saints. It is given to the female priests of Umbanda and Candomblé.

ma·cum·ba [muh koom ba] –noun
A Brazilian cult incorporating the use of fetishes and sorcery and deriving largely from African practices; combines voodoo elements with singing and chanting and dancing.

A solemn fear descended on the city, and the name of the Lord Jesus was greatly honored. Many who became believers confessed their sinful practices. A number of them who had been practicing sorcery brought their incantation books and burned them at a public bonfire. The value of the books was several million dollars. So the message about the Lord spread widely and had a powerful effect.  Acts 19:17-20

Ubaúna has two forms of Macumba, Umbanda and Candomblé. There are at least 3 major terreiras (temples) of Umbanda and 1 of Candomblé. Our interaction since January of this year has been with the Umbanda ones.

One of the terreiras called Umbanda do Silêncio (Umbanda of Silence) has been a significant source of friction and even attack. In January we actually walked into the temple and prayed against it. We had the opportunity to pray with the retired Mãe-de-santo who had been the chief priestess for almost 50 years and asked that the Spirit of the Living Lord take control of her life.

Yesterday, the Acts 19 passage came to life in Ubaúna and our prayers in January were answered!

At breakfast that morning, I was given a message that the 80-year old retired Mãe-de-santo wanted to speak to me — she asked for me by name! We agreed to a time that afternoon and began to pray that the Spirit would lead us.

An hour before the meeting, 4 Brasilian pastors and myself anointed ourselves and prayed fervently that the Living Lord would guide, protect and embolden us. We got into a car and drove to the Umbanda do Silêncio temple on the other side of town.

The Mãe-de-santo has serious health issues and that was the reason she asked us to come — she wanted us to pray for her! I told her that her health issues were a secondary issue and asked her if she knew Jesus. She said “no.” I asked her if she wanted to. She said “yes,” and, within minutes, almost 60 years of service to the Evil One had been destroyed! I kid you not, her contenance changed as we prayed for and with her to accept Jesus (my eyes were wide open!). I’ve never seen anything like it.

We then prayed over her for her health issues (emphysema-like symptoms, extremely poor circulation and cardiovascular issues). What happened was incredible! Her breathing returned to normal almost instantly, the aches in her chest and around the kidneys disappeared and her swollen legs appeared to improve by at least 25%. A sparkle appeared in her eyes, she looked me square in the eyes, smiled and said “that felt good.”

She said she had an altar in her bedroom with saints, the Virgin Mary and other spirit idols. We told her to destroy them, that she had a stronger power than any of them now. We actually told her to burn them in the backyard.

When asked if she would get rid of them, she smiled and simply said “Yes.”

It was all we could do to not breakout in a victory dance — Satan’s voodoo priestess just defected to the enemy!