By Asaiah Logan –
When Yasuko Fleming first prayed to accept Jesus in London in 1993, demon spirits showed up enraged.
“Buddha’s face was there. All the gods I used to pray to were right in front of me,” she said. “They told me, ‘Don’t do that.’ … They grabbed me on my shoulder and pull me back and then I I felt my neck was choked.
After an hour of prayer, praise and scripture reading from the woman who led her to Christ, Yasuko was free.
Yasuko Fleming, from Japan, took a year to study in London. Her landlady was a born-again Christian and invited her to know Jesus.
“I didn’t know anyone who believed in Jesus,” she says. “When she said there is only one God, I didn’t agree,” Yasuko said. “I believed in many gods. It made me feel safe. I didn’t want to get disappointed by one or two gods. I wanted to believe as many as I can so that I feel secure.”
The landlady read her a verse about the people who trust God will not be disappointed. It confronted her directly and convinced her that God was speaking to her.
“When I heard that, it felt like a wall inside my mind fell down,” Yasuko said. “I thought, wow, this feels true.”
So she received Jesus into her heart.
Immediately, the demons manifested and engaged in a battle for her soul that lasted an hour. It turns out that the landlady had been praying and fasting for three days to bring Yasuko to Jesus.
“After that, I felt clean,” she said. “I felt peace for the first time in my life.”
Today, Yasuko leads a Christian art and dance community in Tokyo.
Little by littler, her family members all came to Christ. Japan is 1% Christian and has a strong culture of conserving traditional values, so people are resistant to the gospel.
“It was really hard,” she said. “It’s okay if it takes 10 or 20years Just love your family members. Pray for them. Don’t rush. God is patient.”
She says Japan can be reached one person at a time. “Jesus started with twelve people,” she said. “We can start with whoever is near us.”
Now at All Nations Art Community in Tokyo, she teaches dance and English, runs a café, leads a prayer room, and holds small church services. Sometimes she sings or dances outside. “People stop and watch,” she said. “I can feel the whole atmosphere change.”
Even after all these years, she remembers that first prayer. “Jesus walked toward me,” she said. “And I felt like He had been waiting for me for a long time.”
This article first appeared on Pilgrim Dispatch. Used with permission.
