The Culture Wars

Colossians 1:13-14   For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.

As we read the news, it isn’t hard to see the chaos and craziness in our culture.  What in the world is going on??!!  There are powerful forces at work, pushing us away from the common sense and traditional values of the past and pressuring us to embrace new and wild ideas that are absurd.  It reminds us of the Fairy Tale “The Emperor’s New Clothes” where a foolish king was conned into believing a lie, and his subjects were afraid to speak out the obvious truth.  Yes, it seems clear to us where we are abandoning what is true, good, and right….but many have seemed to embrace insanity.  Truly we are in the middle of the culture wars as people’s worldviews change and shift about with every new idea that arises, no matter how weird or unthinkable.

The culture wars in P-land started up as soon as the teaching of God’s Word began.  Suddenly there was a new and different perspective.  All at once there was teaching that didn’t support all that they had leaned from their ancestors.  As many P people turned to Christ and embraced a Biblical worldview, the conflict began to ramp up between these two opposing viewpoints.

The War Over the Earth 

The unbelievers were very upset with the believers because the earth was getting sad, making it more dangerous and less productive.  Why?  Because they weren’t singing the magic songs to their goddess, thus making the earth sad.  Yes, the earth was sad because of all the menstrual blood that had dripped down into it, but the singing made the earth happy once again, causing wild animals to be less precarious, and making things in their gardens grow so much better.  But now since the believing villages had stopped singing the old songs, the unbelievers were furious and demanded that they sing again.  The believers however now had adopted a new worldview.  They had abandoned much of the old culture and had embraced God’s culture.  They knew that the Lord Owner Boss was the one in charge of the earth that He had created, and that He would take care of things.  They refused to go back to the old songs.

The War Over Healing

Another area where the culture wars raged had to do with dealing with sickness.  When an individual got certain infections, it was due to a couple unknowingly dreaming about that person after having a baby.  And the required remedy was that they come by the house of the infirmed one, shove a stingray through their tongues several times, and blow the resulting blood on the person.  However, the believers now had a Biblical view of sickness and healing.  They stopped blowing blood on others, much to the dismay and anger of the unbelievers.

The War Over Demon Children

Yet another area where the culture wars took place had to do with maintaining the purity of the P race.  Evil spirits, desiring to procreate their own kind, would rape women without them knowing they were violated. The tell-tale sign that things had run amuck was that when a woman gave birth to a demon child, there would be some type of defect on the body of the newborn.  It could be a bent ear, a twisted foot, or even something as small as a mole or birthmark on their skin.  This then called for immediate action.  The older brother of the child’s mother was called.  He would shove sand down the throat of the child and then bury it where it lay, with the umbilical cord still attached to both the child and the placenta.  This child would never, ever be picked up.  However, with their new Biblical worldview, the believers rebelled against this practice, insisting that a defect on a newborn was not a result of a rape by a demon, and they could be picked up and kept.  This certainly raised an outcry among the unbelievers.

Two Kingdoms, Two Worldviews

There are two different kingdoms in P-land with two very distinct worldviews, following two dissimilar paths.  Some are following the way of Cain and some are following the way of Abel.  Some are in the light, and some are in the darkness.  Some are guided by Satan and some by God.  Some live according to a lie and some live according to the truth.  Some are in bondage and some have been untied and set free.  Some do not have their sins forgiven while some do.  It is just like the Scriptures read in Colossians 1:13-14.  Here is an approximation of the P translation:

For when we used to exist in what was like the sphere of darkness, when we used to live under the rule of the evil spirit’s boss, the true God delivered us and exchangingly put us into another sphere.  It’s true!  He exchangingly separated us off to live in the sphere of his Son, in the sphere of the one that he truly loves.  For by means of his Son paying, the true God untied and set us free, in such a way that all the bad that we have done has been totally erased, all of it!

Rejoice with us over these saints below who have entered heaven’s gates, and who were delivered from the kingdom of darkness.  They chose long ago to embrace the truth and walk away from the lies.  And now they are partying!!  We will soon be joining them!!  

Praise and Prayer

• According to the last census done in 2001, there were 11,000 people in this particular ethnic group. As far as we can tell, there are about 500 believers right now. Pray that many more would be transferred from the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of light
• There has been just resistance to the Bible message by the villages where the believers have sought to evangelize. Pray for softened barriers to fall down and for the truth to prevail.
• Pray for continued growth among the 9 village churches
• Pray for the continued maturing of the P pastors and for their teaching abilities to increase
• Pray for literacy to continue to grow and really become popular in the community
• Praise God for the efficacy of Christ’s blood and death to redeem people from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation
• Praise God for the many trophies of His glorious grace that have arrived in Heaven from P-land!
• Praise God for His continued work among the P believers to grow them and conform them more and more to be like their Older Brother Jesus.
• Pray for continued progress with the Bible curriculum for the P believers. We have another 25 more lessons going to print, PTL!
• Pray for us as we continue to learn how to properly edit the radio broadcasts that Lord willing will hit the airwaves toward the end of January 2024
• Pray for our national coworkers, that they will be encouraged, that their financial needs be met, and that they will continue to move forward in their language study and in ministry
• Pray for super profitable times for them with the with the P people

And Thanks Again…..

….for your partnership with us, for your prayers, for your encouragement, for your notes, and for your fellowship in the Gospel.  God is working and is building His church among the Unreached People Groups of the world.  Thanks so much for being a part of the team!

Waiting for the Lord’s Return,
Merrill and Teresa