The Tribune

By JEFFARAH GIBSON

Tribune Features Writer

jgibson@tribunemedia.net

The story of how Bahamian evangelist Aleacha Miller was delivered from the occult was so compelling that it attracted the attention of the Christian Broadcasting Network in the United States.

The network, which is based in Virginia, has been trying to reach out to Aleacha for the last three months, ever since she chronicled her life-changing experience in the book “From the Occult to the Cross: Out of the Darkness into the Light”.

It wasn’t until recently that Aleacha decided to connect with the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) and share her tale on a global platform in hopes of saving others from the fate she once suffered.

Aleacha started to write her book more than 13 years ago, shortly after rededicating her life to Christ. It sat on her computer hard drive for years before being published late last year.

She was encouraged by her husband, Apostle Kelson Miller of Born Again Deliverance Ministries, to publish the book as he was convinced doing so would help someone else in bondage to the occult and its practices.

Aleacha said she was first introduced to the occult at age 13 in Jamaica by a school teacher who had become a mentor and good friend. Though she was born in the Bahamas, her mother was Jamaican and took her daughter back there to live for several years.

“A girlfriend of mine and I went to have lunch one day. She started telling me about a dream she had. At lunch I told her what her dream meant. This school teacher overheard us, came to our table and told us little about herself and who she was. Then she said to me, ‘You were right. You can interpret dreams,” Aleacha told Tribune Woman.

Aleacha’s relationship with this teacher grew closer and she became like a mother to the young girl.

“Every time we went out for weekends she would pick me up. We became very good friends. She was more like a mother to me because my parents were always working so they were never really around,” said Aleacha.

This new, older friend, whom she came to admire, did not share her affiliation with the occult immediately.

“She built trust with me first. It wasn’t until a year later she said there was something she needed to tell me,” said Aleacha.

“I thought when she said she wanted to talk she would have said that she was into drugs or something. At the time my parents were convinced that was the case because they saw how she had a huge house and saw that I was coming home with money. They came to the conclusion that she was a drug dealer.”

The teacher then revealed to Aleacha that she was part of an occult society and asked if she would take some time to consider joining.

“She told me how they lived life the way they wanted to; they have power and control, lots of money and that they get whatever they want,” she said.

The teacher also took Aleacha to a special room in her house which she said was decorated with numerous motifs of the occult, such as statutes, cards, candles and pentagram symbols.

“The minute I entered that room every hair on body stood up. I was extremely scared,” Aleacha recalled.

“After leaving the room she told me to think about joining and that she would teach me everything I needed to know.”

Sometime later Aleacha made up her mind to join this group and engage in card readings and the casting of spells.

“I moved back to Nassau and got connected with those here in the community. They helped me and they provided a great support system for me. There was one point where I actually stopped working and went into card reading full-time,” she said.

Aleacha said over the years many people came to her house for card readings, to find out about their life and future. Doing this earned Aleacha more than $100 an hour.

“People would come to ask me to cast spells that would harm other people. What I found out was that people were bold and they were not afraid to ask for what they wanted,” she said.

Aleacha also recalled being booked for a private corporate retreat that was hosted in Nassau by a large American company. She said at this event she did about 100 or more readings, one of her biggest jobs.

However, living on the dark side left Aleacha alienated from family, unable to develop personal relationships, and in a cold place emotionally.

One evening, while in bed, Aleacha said she felt as though she was about to have a heart attack and die. It was in that moment she asked God to give her one more chance. Immediately, the feeling subsided and she wept.

Aleacha goes into full detail regarding this journey in the book and how she came to be delivered. Her main purpose, she said, in sharing her story is to let people know that God has a better plan for their life – one much better than the occult could ever offer them.

“Satan is a deceiver and a liar and uses many tricks to coerce innocent victims into all sorts of evil, even if he has to appear as an angel of light. See the signs, heed the warnings of your soul, listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit convicting you. Even the thorn in your flesh is designed to keep you from falling when the time of temptation comes,” she said.

“God has great designs and plans for your life and the occult is not one of them. But since the rise of Ouija boards, angelic worship, the rise of movies like Harry Potter, and prophets so-called, many innocent victims are drawn as helpless into such practices to the damning of their soul.”

“From the Occult to the Cross” has sold more than 600 copies in Canada, the UK, the US, and in the Bahamas since being published three months ago.

Aleacha said her deliverance was a process and there were days that she wanted to quit, but giving up was not an option. She said she has faced rejection, persecution and was slandered, but that did not stop her from publishing her story and shedding light on the miraculous work God has done in her life.

Now, Aleacha’s story has been documented for an interview with the CBN, a media entity founded by televangelist Pat Robertson that has millions of viewers. Its content is posted to its website, YouTube channel, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages.

The mission of CBN and its affiliated organisations is to prepare the world for the coming of Jesus Christ and the establishment of the kingdom of God on earth.