Dear Friends
and Family,
“We’re un-curseable!”
came the defiant challenge from our ‘Young Tigers’ as they
happened to be ministering in a village when a powerful shaman
challenged them. Now, this impressed the locals because they
knew this guy had the “Goods”. They had seen the terror that
befell those who defied him, and cringed at the thought of what
would come upon the brash “Young Tigers’. What took place
produced a major paradigm shift in the village.
The ‘Tigers” tapped into a Spiritual power that was
greater than the Shaman’s, and not only completely thwarted his
powers, but managed to get him free of the demonic spirits that
guided him.
http://www.missionreports.com/young_tiger_around_cambodia/index.htm
He is now traveling with them telling about the true power
over all spirits, Jesus Christ. Lest you think this is just some
“Missionary story” to impress the impressionable, with little
basis in anything but superstition; receive the testimony of the
former shaman, “Much of my power was based in
true spiritual
connection, sometimes I manipulated through fear.” It
isn’t just in
Cambodia that these encounters take place, but when they
do you really need more than just a good religious conversion.
Read on:
Imagine an 8
year old kid lying face down on top of his grandfather’s corpse,
freshly dug up, following twenty years of decay in an earthen
grave, now that’s creepy enough to make a good
Halloween
thriller, but it gets worse. It’s at night and the tribal
elders, who have delivered the young man to this horror, cover
him with a tarp and only open it long enough to sprinkle their
blood down upon him as they dance, chant, and entice the spirit
of the departed ancestor to enter the young lad. What’s worse,
they’re all naked, masked, piercing themselves with knives and
won’t let the boy out of the grave until a connection with the
grandfather is confirmed by the lad’s correct answers to
questions that only the elders will recall regarding the long
dead grandfather. Spooky? Yup! But,
very real! What’s more, the youngster passed the test, by
bonding with the spirit. By age 10 he was the “Watchman” of the
tribe. He could actually receive information, via the spirit
realm, about movements of enemy tribes as they came to attack,
alert the elders, who would then ambush them as they approached.
I understand that most of you will doubt this story. That’s the
problem with
Western Christianity; we no longer take the spiritual
realm seriously. But, Satan and his demonic horde have
no problem seeing into the past and present; but the future?
Well, they can only guess and lie, but for them, that comes
naturally. This is stuff we deal with as we work with tribal and
animistic people, which includes a large portion of the
Buddhists in Cambodia.
In this case
the young man came to know Christ through an
evangelical
Christian and, though he lost his seeing powers, he was
saddened by the loss of spiritual power, that is until be
received the
Baptism in the Holy Spirit. Now, he’s ready for anything!
That boy is now the “Bishop” of one of the largest groups of
Christians in
Kenya , five to seven million people. And, I’ve spent
over a month with him in Kenya this year, stirring up all manner
of trouble. First, it seems that all his churches want the
infilling of the
Holy Spirit, then he had me speak at a youth conference,
I got them all baptized in water and most filled with the
Spirit. I didn’t know they had a rule that you had to be 18
years old and pass an examination before you could be baptized.
Then he took me to a women’s conference. Big mistake! They don’t
allow women to preach. The trouble is they got freed up in the
Holy Spirit and cast off their chains, now they look just like
our Cambodian women.
http://www.missionreports.com/woman_ministry_kspeu
It upset a lot
of religious spirits. Then, to cap things off, to help solve a
corruption problem caused by locally elected pastors, I
introduced him to a system of Church government where pastors
are appointed by their supervisors. Whoops! One of the former
leaders reportedly wants to shoot me! Now, why would I go back
there? I really want to stay home! But, I have to accept what I
know in my heart, and others have confirmed. I’d better get used
to it!
I got this
email from my friend, “The Bishop” after bringing
him to Singapore
. I’m still not sure how I’ll make this work, but he’s a hard
guy to “blow-off” because I do know that he hears from God.
Ted,
You must come
to Africa . I have been praying for my ministry here in Kenya
and feel strongly that you are the missionary we never got. I
have a proposal Sir. Please plan to come to us four months in a
year and devote the rest of the time to Cambodia . I suggest you
come January through March and come back in November to see
what you set in motion. In other words Ted, I am asking you
kindly to consider being our missionary starting January. You
can do Cambodia and Kenya and probably Sudan . I know it sounds
like a suggestion to you but I really want you to come to us.
Please help us. BUT, I also know that God wants you to come to
us for a while. Blessings from your x Student
Actually, Sou
runs things better than I do. I am always a little humbled by
how well things work when I’m gone. They even kicked-off a pilot
project at a local church for Children’s Education while I was
away.
http://www.missionreports.com/chom_chao_sunday_oct
Speaking of
our Singapore meeting, how many of you have read the book, “The
Shack” ?
I recommend it, and guarantee it will shake up performance
based religion. Well, I just read it on the plane today and,
believe it or not, I know the real, living “Shack”. I am
convinced that this author and Beth Barone are tuned into the
same channel. This is the third time Beth Barone of Bar-One
Ministries has been to Asia to open this concept of
“relationship based creation theology”. Our guys are excited! I
took a group and they got started translating material the day
after they returned to Cambodia . I brought the “Bishop” and he
said, “This is a teaching I will die for!” Bar-One teachings
are the basis for our new Children’s curriculum.
http://www.missionreports.com/singapore_trip
It was one of
those unexpected and unsolicited encouragements that boost your
stamina. I’d been asked to have dinner with a man who’d taken
over a ministry that went through a ‘hard time’ due to a
leadership hit (a good man went down as victim to the sexual
temptations that are rampant in SE Asia ). Expecting to be the
one doing the encouraging, I was surprised when John looked me
in the eye and said, “Ted, you guys have done more to thwart
sexual trafficking in Cambodia that all the other organizations
combined!” It was a compliment I wasn’t prepared for. “John”, I
replied, “We’re not an anti-trafficking organization.” He
replied, “So what! How many times can you ‘un-rape’ a child? How
many of the kids in your homes would have been trafficked had
you not intervened?” I thought for a moment and shot back an
estimate, “Probably at least two-thirds of the girls and maybe a
tenth of the boys!” He pressed on, “And the factory girls?” http://www.missionreports.com/garment_factory_girls/index.htm
I said, “I really don’t know but probably at least a third”. He
exclaimed, “That’s huge! You are talking about thousands of
kids!” I nodded in agreement and added, “I’ve never really
looked at it like that, but I agree, prevention is much more
powerful than the cure!” We received a nice write up in a
Cambodian magazine for working with abused children:
http://www.missionreports.com/orphan_story_magazine
The Swiss Team
Came to attend the dedication of our “Garment
Factory Worker’s Dorm” and supplied a lot of useful
service. Several on the team were not believers in Christ when
they came, but God took care of that in a
Cambodian Church
service. Now, that has to be God! Thanks team!
http://www.missionreports.com/swissteam2009/index.htm
It was a good
month for compliments. Remember that movie “Awakening
Cambodia” that Rob Marcarelli,
the producer of the “Omega
Code”, came and shot for us? One of our visitors
requested a copy, and after actually seeing operations on the
ground wrote this: (The DVD is still available from the email
address listed in the letter)
Hi
All:
Many who have seen the DVD I have been sharing with all who will
listen of the mind blowing vision God handed the
Foursquare Church
in Cambodia have asked how to obtain a copy of this. Per Ted
Olbrich's latest email update below,
contact Tony [
tony@warmblankets.org ] Just send him a shipping
address, he'll send you the details.
Tony: please "reply all" with
costs, info you need for us to order your phenomenal DVD
I went with Brian Wiggs of Portland
to the Philippines and Cambodia in search of models of Christian
vocational schools to "test" our plan for the Micah Project
Christian vocational school in Honduras launching this
November. We came away realizing the "tractor school" there is
a very small (but effective) cog in a very huge machine God set
in motion to awaken Cambodia.. I have been engaged with
Christian
missions on 3 continents for 10 years and have not
witnessed a
Christian mission that has been handed as large a vision
from God as this one AND is executing it - 3000 churches, 106
orphan homes, 400,000 members in 8 years, and the numbers don't
do it justice! We learned from this visit about seeking a God
sized vision, empowering locals to execute the work and serving
the needs of "whole person"
It is the "real deal" - frankly I would have doubted it if I had
not seen it myself - call me Thomas! Click on some of the links
in Ted's letter and see their latest devastating blows to the
devil's influence they have delivered
You will be blessed and bless others by ordering this DVD and
sharing it with others, if it motivates any to contribute to the
work there rest assured it is a very accountable and transparent
Christian church doing an outstanding job ministering to the
"whole person" in this very challenging environment
Blessings
Drew
Floods wrought
havoc on 14 of our Church/Homes.
http://www.missionreports.com/flood_cambodia/index.htm
With all the disasters around the area, and ours being the
least dramatic, I really wasn’t expecting much help. The very
next day I received an email from
Hong Kong
offering us some major assistance, and then several churches and
organizations around the world responded with substantial help!
I was surprised, gratified, and encouraged by the response.
Altogether we lost about 250 pigs, mostly small, several cattle,
chickens, and even ducks that went floating down the river never
to be seen again.
Four generators, eight tons of rice, numerous rice fields, quite
a supply of food stuffs were
all ruined. In addition we have to repair or
replace loose floor tiles, destroyed livestock shelters, and
re-plant gardens and landscaping. We’ll soon have them back in
shape! We distributed emergency food aid to those who lost what
little they had.
http://www.missionreports.com/food_distribution_flood_victim
“Thank you!” May God’s blessing multiply your sacrificial
giving as it flows back to you!
Rice harvest
has begun! Busy days ahead! More travel, more opportunities!
Hey, serving God is never dull!
Have a blessed month! We will!
Pa Thom (Ted)
Mak
Sou (Sou)
And all the real heroes: “The Cambodian Team!”
