Kenya Prayer Update #10

Hello all! Hope you've been well.

I've lived here in El Doret for two months now. They have been both very full and very quick.

A couple things have happened the past two weeks since last I wrote. The weekend before last, I was blessed by a visit from a great brother in Christ from Nakuru, Kenya. My friend Daniel (hi Daniel) lived in Tanzania for a number of months and made a good friend in James, from Nakuru, who was also on mission in Tanzania with Daniel. We were able to connect and James came up to El Doret for the weekend for a visit. It was a great time of fellowship with him and very encouraging to hear of his heart for the Lord and for mission work in Tanzania. Let's all be praying for him as he continues to plan some future work there.

This past week and weekend, beginning on Wednesday and proceeding through Sunday, some organization hosted a giant crusade sort of event they called the "Explosion of Joy Festival." Jake and I decided to attend and do some scouting and reconnaissance to see what the festival was about because all the signs were rather ambiguous. Well, getting there, we saw the massive crowds and we arrived just in time for "evangelist" (formally that is his title, but we may call his title for practical purposes "blaspheming heretic" in accordance with 1 Timothy 6) Johannes Amritzer, somewhat known (I think German) author and speaker, to open the Word of God and proceed to pick out his favorite little verses and move around the stage acting out skits and dramas about bachelors' houses full of rats (Jesus has to clean out the rats and the bachelor, well he needs a wife... she's even in the crowd!!!), cheese in a grandfather's mustache that his grandson put in while he was sleeping (you see, if you don't like standing, or you don't like the preacher, or maybe you don't like the (off-key) choir, well it's not because there is anything wrong with the preacher, and of course nothing wrong with the singers or with standing, it's simply cheese in your spiritual mustache!), and other junk loosely based on the Scriptures. He prophesied over the public transportation drivers -- "I am prophesying!! You boda boda riders, in 10 years, you will be lawyers! You will be doctors! You will be members of Parliament!" And he would go on telling everyone they were saved that day -- "Today is your birthday! Your spiritual birthday!" that they were now marked with the blood, that everyone would go home marked, on their ear, on their thumb, and on their toes, with the physical blood of Jesus Christ. The demons would shake seeing this blood. If this sounds insane and absurd, it definitely is, and if it doesn't sound crazy, God's Word confirms that it is, in fact, crazy. Even looking at this man's theatrics with a purely logical view would convince someone that these are wild claims with no base in truth, strange adages, and impossible lies. But the tragedy lies in the size of the crowd. Were no one there to hear, none would be deceived by this man's wickedness. But there were a good couple thousand people at this festival, all of them eager, so unknowingly, to soak up what the BIble calls a doctrine of Balaam, that being a doctrine of deception, so that they could receive their blessing, their healing, and the casting out of their demons. Jake and I left the event just a few minutes before the false prophet planned to start the healings and the exorcisms (seriously), so we didn't experience that part of it, which is probably good anyhow. I detail all that to show the spiritual decrepitude that far transcends the physical and financial poverty that plagues this continent. You see, in America, we have the Kenneth Copelands, the Osteens, the Benny Hins, all with their tidy packagings of "Christianity" and financial blessings. We have the Word of Faith movement with their practices, notably their tenet of the prosperity gospel, and the churches that amass money and status for their pastor. And that deception worked pretty well in America, under the guise of fulfilling that American Dream. But included in the American spirit is a great degree of self-sufficiency and individual responsibility that is not present in Africa.African culture is often also associated with the phrase "shame & honor," meaning that how others perceive a family (yes, the individual, but chiefly the family because the individual reflects his family) depends on their carriage and stability within society. People will go to extraordinary and sometimes wicked lengths to preserve honor and avoid shame coming upon their family. So somewhere along the line in this Word of Faith movement, some "apostle" recognized these cultural phenomena and saw a hurting and desperate people. They saw the people, and then they saw the dollar sign. And thus the prosperity gospel was repackaged and shipped to Africa, where now, not exaggerating, probably upwards of 95% of all churches either explicitly buy into or otherwise condone these heresies (Romans 1:32 equalizes the two offenses). Here the church is an empire exalting the pastor. Sundays consist of dramatic shows of charisma from the pastor, prophecies, and promises that "sowing the seed" (giving a certain amount of money now) will produce a tenfold or hundredfold reaping in the future -- "Just give us all your money now and God will heal you, yes He will heal you and bless you and you will soon be rich, just give your money now!" So there's a bit of history surrounding what I witnessed on Wednesday, I hope that you'll pray for the thousands of people who were spiritually deceived and physically robbed this past week here in El Doret. This man Johannes will travel with his 20 some-odd buses from city to city, expanding his empire of dirt, and when he arrives before Christ, should he not repent before his soul is required of him (Luke 12), he will say, "Lord, Lord! Did I not prophesy in Your name? Have I not cast out demons in Your name? Have I not gathered great wealth for Your Kingdom, so much wealth? Have I not made millions cheer Your name? Have I not healed people's illnesses, their maladies and infirmities? Did they not clap for you? Did I not roam to and fro over the face of the earth in Your name?" And Christ will say to Him, "Who now are you before Me? I have never known you, depart from me, worker of lawlessness and perpetuator of iniquity!" (Matt. 7). For all his wealth, his status, his towering empire of influence, the foundation he has chosen has been that of stubble and sand rather than Christ Jesus, and he will not endure unless he repents and believes on the Lord for salvation. As it stands, he's earned himself a great many millstones. I do pray for his soul, and I urge you all as well to do the same, and also to pray for this nation and its people, that their faith would be strengthened for those who have it, and that those who don't believe would come to a knowledge and love of Christ. Pray for more laborers to share the true and the real Good News and for more churches that will stand on the Word of God though all the world would try to oust them from such a foundation.

It took me two months, but I finally got sick! It's not anything bad though, just a head cold, so praise God for His preservation. I'm already getting over it, which is good. On the topic of sickness, please be in prayer for Pastor Rosaire from Calvary Chapel Penobscot Valley. He came with the Bangor team for the football tournament and has been battling a bacterial infection of some sort that has been brutal to him since the day they landed back in the States a couple weeks ago now. I just heard today that the doctors have finally reached a diagnostic conclusion, so that is potentially good.

There is a young man Ishamel who has been working with us on the church land. His name used to be Abednego, but when he converted to Islam they changed his name to Ishmael. He's been a testimony of God's power in the last few weeks as he's begun coming to church. He's become one of my friends here; Jake, Vinny and I had him over for dinner on Saturday, and then on Sunday he was asking me about baptism and said he wanted to talk with Pastor Josh about it. Pray for his continual growth and salvation. Baptism Sunday is this coming, so Lord willing I'll write you all next time with an update.

I think I've exhausted my fingers -- goodnight! Kua na jioni njema,

Zion