Dear Friends and Family,
Lions and tigers, I saw a few this month but none have impressed me like those at work here in Cambodia . We gave the name “Young Tigers” to our older orphans, who have become pastors. Impartation of anointing does seem to ‘rub off’, and these guys just ‘get it!’ They’re our Cambodian kids, and I’m proud of them! (Come on! Give me some bragging rights!) Even old guys like me can learn from them. http://www.missionreports.com/young_tigers_teach_battambang But, what is truly amazing is what our youth, “The Young Lions” are doing. Sway Rieng province, the poorest in Cambodia , has been a dry, dead place. No more! These kids won’t even let an old ‘goat’ like me into their meetings, but we see the results. http://www.missionreports.com/youth_revival_sv The proof is always in changed lives. They went to work up in Siem Reap Province and people came from that encounter changed! You really need to read the testimonies of a ‘druggie-gang-banger’, a prostitute, and a shaman (witch doctor) at the bottom of this link! http://www.missionreports.com/siem_reap_church_training (click on the red name above their picture).
I Know! I’m a missionary to Cambodia , but I learned some painful and important lessons this month. And God hauled me to Africa to teach them to me. As an old mentor once told me, “Meaningful education is never cheap, painless, or easy!” When I heard that in my twenties, I knew he was wrong, now, for forty years I’ve been hoping he was wrong, but the older I get the smarter he seems.
“El Stupido”! You’d think after eleven years on the mission field I’d learn to consider the consequences of how I pray. Since confession is good for the soul, and my moldy relic needs all the help it can get, here goes: I really did not want to go to Kenya this month. I know, I promised the Bishop I’d come and help him, but I was tired and wanted to just stay in Cambodia . So, I prayed this prayer: “God can you make me sick enough so that I have a really good excuse not to go to Kenya , but not so sick that it kills, or permanently disables me?” Two days before my departure I came down with amoebic dysentery. The day before I left Dr. Lina (one of our staff doctors – who says they don’t make house calls?) stayed up all night with me injecting five bottles of I.V. solution into my veins. http://www.missionreports.com/pathom_sick_09 I was so convicted by my selfishness I rolled my I.V. stand, with bottle still plumbed into my arm, over to the office for morning devotions. I told the staff what I had done, and asked for forgiveness, and their prayers. Guess what? I got better! So, I went to Kenya . The morning I got there I started passing blood, but by then, I was committed. I knew I was on the best medication for the disease, so I decided to ‘brass it out’. I was a little wobbly for a few days, but learned indelibly, that feelings are not the best barometer for spiritual direction.
The devil definitely did not want me in Kenya , and honestly, the only reason I repented was because my covenant friend, Sonny Weimer, (“The dirty rat!”) had purchased a non-refundable ticket to meet me there. Talk about a guilt trip! I didn’t realize that the Bishop (Julius Mbagaya) is the spiritual leader over about 7,000,000 Kenyans. He had been under the bondage of a denomination that forbad him to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. He got nailed with that reality as he was writing his doctoral thesis on the discrepancies between their denominational position and the Scriptures. Everywhere, he went people started to fall out under the power of the Spirit, and he didn’t even believe in it! The more he protested, “Stop that! This is not for today!” the worse it got, until he got zapped. He was not the Bishop at the time, but churches were clamoring for him to come and speak. The dreaded phenomenon was spreading like a virus! Missionaries panicked! Julius was asked to leave the denomination so he wouldn’t pollute any more with his “Heresy”. Discouraged, he went to the US to receive his doctorate, while he was gone the church held their national convention, and in a shock to the more than 500 foreign missionaries, all other candidates for the presidency (Bishop) withdrew from nomination, and asked that Julius’ name be written in without opposition. It was a legal election.
He came back to find himself president. Most of the 500 missionaries left Kenya . He was without infrastructure, as all leadership positions had been held by foreigners, but surprise, the number of churches under his leadership began to explode, doubling in the last two years, to almost 3000 congregations. They were caring for more than 4000 orphans and he heard about our work in Cambodia through Craig Muller of Warm Blankets. I went to Kenya with Craig last December, and in February this year Craig brought the Bishop to Cambodia . He happened to show up during our annual “Baptism Trip” and what he saw changed his life. http://www.missionreports.com/batism_2009 He saw kids being baptized in water, and virtually all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit; He saw women in ministry moving in a powerful anointing; He saw a system of church government where pastors were appointed by the central leadership; A church where relationship was more important than performance, and he wanted that for Kenya. As a result, Sonny and I were invited to Kenya , and after this visit, bouncing over 2000 kilometers of chuckholes, dust, and a few good roads, Sonny and I managed to get them so messed up that they are re-writing their constitution to allow all of the above. http://www.missionreports.com/ted_africa_trip/index.htm
I see the “soap box” crawling out of the closet! “Is that you Spud? (my dog) Ok! I’m on it! Ready? The world needs a serious ‘wake-up call’! My old friend, Shaw Afshar, an Iranian born Christian pastor, told me right after Sept.11th, “Your ‘political correctness’ is going to kill you!” I knew we had a problem in Southeast Asia . http://www.missionreports.com/asian_militants And Europe ? Well, according to social scientists, it’s gone! With a 1.2 child per couple birth rate for the ethnic French, and 7.8 children for Muslim couples in France ; Germany , The Netherlands , United Kingdom ; all of Europe is in a similar state. Islamists will never have to fire a shot; they’ll breed themselves into control. In less than two generations they will be a majority. The US better wake-up and look at cities like Detroit . But it’s more hideous in Africa and Asia where the local birth rates are still holding their own. I know Muslims are being won to Christ, but the plain truth is, that worldwide, they are bringing more Christians (granted they may be nominal) into Islam than we are Muslims to Christ. The Kenyan church has obtained a transcript from an Islamic summit where a target was laid out to make Africa the first Islamic continent by 2015. I am not suggesting we compete with them, we don’t have their money, but we do have a greater power! If a sick Muslim is healed by the power of Christ it will definitely challenge their religious convictions. But the church cannot ignore the social and economic issues of the people we serve, we must work together to help our brethren. We have to stop the sectarian and tribal differences, and realize that if someone agrees that Jesus Christ is the resurrected Lord we are related, and must combine efforts for the greater good.
Kenya is 70+ percent Christian. What is happening in Africa may be the greatest threat to Christians and Jews in this century. I realize “end times hysteria” causes some to feel there is no hope, it is all predestined. Well, all I know is that Jesus is returning, and all we know about the timing of that event is that we don’t know! I do not believe in a defeated church! I realize most of you reading this live in the Americas where this problem has not been as pronounced. In Asia, and especially Africa , radical Islamic takeover is on the forefront. It has roots in corruption, dependency building, and religious obsession. The Christian Church is asleep! We have forgotten what true righteousness is. We think it is adherence to the “Thou shalt nots” when it is really “Doing what is right as defined by God”. We pray and fast, but how many urgent needs is the church meeting? Do we understand: “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.” (Is 58:6-8) Much of what the Muslims are doing is to deliberately build dependency. Kenya is in the midst of severe drought, and caught in a web of political corruption that has developed a thirst for Arab money. Children are primary targets. In Cambodia , and especially Kenya , thousands of children are being trafficked to Islamic schools in places like Malaysia and Somalia . But they are not just targeting kids, specifically Muslims are:
1) Offering interest free Islamic banking to all converts.
2) Offering free Islamic education to all converts.
3) Offering free scholarships for college education to all converts.
4) Offering good paying jobs in Islamic factories to those who convert to Islam.
5) Offering drought and famine aid to Muslim converts.
6) Buying up Kenyan infrastructure such as the Nairobi airport and main market centers.
7) Using Islamic wealth to bribe corrupt officials in land grabbing to destroy Christian Church buildings. Last Sunday an old established Christian Church was bulldozed to the ground in front of hundreds of church members because the land had been illegally purchased by Muslims through corrupt officials.
8) Muslims have the money for permits, and are free to build anywhere. One rich Muslim has recently constructed 800 Mosques in Kenya in the last two years. This is just one man! Have you ever heard of a Christian doing that?
9) Muslims are using money to buy influence and power in the Kenyan government. They have already gained several important positions including the Ministry of Defense, and a key position as chairman of the committee for re-writing the Kenyan Constitution.
When I served in Laos , during the Vietnam War, a majority of Indonesians were still Christian, Papua New Guinea was animist, and Lebanon was Christian. Now Indonesia is the largest Islamic country in the world, Papua New Guinea is Christian, and Lebanon is Islamic. Why? For one thing; the Church was active in New Guinea ! We can change political outcomes in the world, but we better wake up! The biggest losers in this game are women; reduced to chattel, spending the rest of their lives peering at the world through a slit in their black body covering, sweating it out in searing heat. What I am about to say is not anti-Semitic. I believe we should pray for the peace of Jerusalem , and bless Israel , but Jesus came because he “so loved the world”. There is only one gate into the “sheepfold”; Jesus Christ. Every year thousands of Christians go on expensive trips to Israel . There are many churches in America that seem to think that there is a third covenant with God concerning Israel, and raise millions of dollars for Israel, with few coming to Christ. Here is the point: If we want to help Israel we must put our efforts into stopping the Islamic takeover of non-Islamic nations. Pray for Kenya and Cambodia and give to make it happen! These nations can generate a passion to stop this Islamic advance without resorting to manipulation or hysteria. And that’s all I have to say about That! Spud, get that box back in the closet!”
We really love the teams that come here! There is no way we can maintain this system of 103 Church/Homes on the money we receive. Teams make it possible, and at the same time demonstrate a lesson in “Servant Leadership” that is much better caught than taught! This month two pretty beat-up homes got a great renovation! Josh and Michelle Ferguson have returned to the US . They served long and well, but want to get back home and establish their ‘married life’. As a ‘swan song’ they hosted their home church on a renovation and construction of a cafeteria building. Not only that, they plan to sponsor the home: http://www.missionreports.com/hope_chhuk_ksach/index4.html Then our old friend, Bonita Booth, led a team of seven women, and a couple of young men, that changed the outlook of a discouraged church. The pastor, stricken with cancer, the congregation feeling neglected, all got a boost from cancer survivor Booth’s team. Hope and good deeds abound! There was spiritual, mental and physical renovation. The Doctors even treated three Buddhist Monks who left with tears in their eyes, “You don’t hate us!” was their surprised comment. Our dentist pulled and filled rotting teeth and Pastor Peter, our President, taught church leaders. My wife truly enjoyed the fellowship, and the shopping! http://www.missionreports.com/bonita_team_prek_jeek And guess what? New Life in Bakersfield , California has decided to sponsor the home!
Blessings to you all!
Pa Thom (Me, Ted)
And those still do’in all the work,
The Cambodian FCOP Team,
Mak Sou,
Kris Warner
Bob and Christal Hollandsworth
Ryan Brown
