Well, ever since the midterms back in the States, all I’ve seen and dealt with on Facebook is division—what I think, what I want, what everyone else thinks. Yes, government is extremely important. God set that in place all the way back in Genesis. But this has been really upsetting to me, because there’s a much bigger divide we should be concerned about: man’s separation from God because of sin. Sin divides us from God, and the only answer is to repent of our sin and believe the Gospel.
Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. Acts 16:30-32
I say this because while I sit here in the tropics of Papua New Guinea (in 95 degree heat), politics and economy just don’t apply all the way out here in the jungle. These souls in Moka know a completely different story. Caleb has been preaching through Mark, and I’ve been praying for everyone who comes to hear the Word each week. For years and years these people have sat in demonic darkness. They’re blinded by their sin that has engulfed them for so long, trapped by the fear the evil one has over them.
Next year marks a decade of us being in Moka. We’re not the new people on the block anymore, although they often forget, and sometimes they act like they don’t even know us.
“Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: Repent and turn away from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations.” Ezekiel 14:6
A decade frontline mission work is a long time to be somewhere telling these people about Christ, and yet not one has repented of their sin and embraced the free offer of the Gospel of Jesus. This is upsetting. You can start to feel depressed. Maybe it’s the 95-degree weather talking, but I feel like there’s a heavy cloud over everything—over the USA with all the unreal division that’s taken place, and over PNG and our people here, who don’t really seem to care about the Word.
The prophets Elijah and Jeremiah dealt with this same problem. Elijah felt it after the fire on Carmel. Jeremiah felt it while the people kept rejecting the message. This cloud is not proof that God has abandoned the field; it is often the atmosphere of spiritual warfare where the enemy is fighting to keep people in the dark and to discourage the ones holding the light. We are the only ones carrying that light here. The task is difficult. Pray with us for the salvation of these people. The evil one is rearing his head in many places and as Christians our armor must to be worn!
10 years ago
10 years ago