{"id":1209,"date":"2014-06-28T10:03:25","date_gmt":"2014-06-28T15:03:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/simon-flanagan\/?p=1209"},"modified":"2014-06-28T10:03:25","modified_gmt":"2014-06-28T15:03:25","slug":"mengen-believers-gain-new-ground-facing-resistance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/simon-flanagan\/2014\/06\/28\/mengen-believers-gain-new-ground-facing-resistance\/","title":{"rendered":"Mengen believers gain new ground: facing resistance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear praying friends<\/em><\/strong>,<\/span><\/p>\n

Here is an update from our co-workers to fuel your prayers for the Mengen church. In these days we are church planting in new villages, the devil\u00a0doesn\u2019t like this and there is resistance. We are writing to call you to very specific prayer in these days as we have a number of our believers operating in areas of great resistance, namely in the very camp of the demon possessed shaman. And these are relatively new believers who are boldly sharing their faith and passing out literature.<\/p>\n

PRE-EVANGELISM PICTURE BOOK CREATING A STIR\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the pieces of literature that we cannot keep in print is pictured here \u2013a small 26 page booklet that contrasts the world\u2019s religions with the Mengen ones and asks the following questions, \u201cWhich belief is true?\u201d \u201cHow can we know which belief is true and which is false?\u201d \u201cHow do you know that the belief that you are resting on is thee truth?\u201d\u00a0 It also brings to light their own inconsistencies about who God is, His existence, the cause of death, and sickness; ultimately leading them to realize that there is only one source of truth and that\u2019s found in God\u2019s Word alone.<\/p>\n

No sooner was the book out in our home village, when the believers were taken to court by one of our local religions. So you can imagine what this book will do as enters\u00a0the devils\u00a0territory.<\/p>\n

ALBERT\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Pictured here is Albert, one of the fiery believers who is spreading his faith amongst his family who are under the control of this shaman. He came to faith in Christ back in 2010, but shortly afterwards the shaman forced him to take his sick child out of the hospital to be \u2018cured\u2019 by his magic \u2013resulting in the death of the child. And then, believe it or not, the shaman pinned the death on Albert because he left the leading of the spirits for God\u2019s Word and if he didn\u2019t come back, his next child would die as well. So, under incredible pressure, he turned his back on Christ.<\/p>\n

But our believers have continued to challenge him, and recently, he\u2019s come back and burned his bridges in the process -he sent word to the shaman that he was now finished with his religion as he was now following Christ alone. And since, he\u2019s been quietly going to each of his family members to share Christ with them. (And recently, his unbelieving wife has begun to express doubts in the shaman as well.) BUT<\/strong>\u2026 we just got word that he youngest daughter is now deathly sick, getting daily shots for malaria and he\u2019s struggling with fear. He stands alone in the shaman\u2019s village and culturally, he doesn\u2019t have the final say about his child \u2013his in-laws do.<\/p>\n

Please pray for this dear brother as he goes through this trial. We have been able to come alongside him to encourage him and he now has a solar powered MP3 player to listen to the lessons that he\u2019s missed out on. Please pray for his protection, and encouragement.<\/p>\n

TELI & KARIANG\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Many of you will remember Teli & Kariang from our old requests for their daughter who died. As a result of the child\u2019s death, Teli turned away from Christ; revealing his heart as he secretly followed the shaman and sacrifices to the dead as well as Christ. Subsequently, mostly through the prayers and witness of his dear wife, he has now burned all of his bridges with the shaman and is very openly following Christ alone. They together are challenging the shaman\u2019s power in his village as they witness to his followers by their changed lives and with literature. Please keep this couple in your prayers for wisdom, growth and protection.<\/p>\n

LOCAL CARGO CULT LEADER BEGINNING TO PREACH TRUTH\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And to demonstrate the power of God, I need to share about another man \u2013our local village cargo cult leader who leads their weekly services to recite the 10 Commandments and to take payment of coins for any infractions in a special spirit blessed tin can. But because of our believers continual witness, especially to this local leader, he is now teaching some biblical truth in his \u2018sermons,\u2019 convicting his followers that it\u2019s impossible to follow the 10 Commandments to appease God. As a result, his followers are for the first time beginning to get a sense of their sin. This leader has privately expressed that all that he is doing in completely against God\u2019s Word. Please pay for the salvation of DC, also pictured here.<\/p>\n

THE POWER OF GOD\u2019S WORD ALONE\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This shaman and his cargo cult religion has held our people captive since 1964 and is very demonic in its origins. I am convinced from Revelations 12.11 that God\u2019s Word alone in the gospel has the power to shine a great light in this dark place. It says, \u2018They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimonies, not loving their lives unto death<\/em><\/strong>.\u2019\u00a0 And thus we\u2019re beginning to see cracks develop in the shaman and the cargo cults power.<\/p>\n

We covet your prayers for these dear folk serving in tough situations. I am believing God for breakthroughs in the coming months and thus have challenged our guys for what their plan will be as the door is opened. There is power in prayer \u2013please press on.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Grace to run well,<\/p>\n

Simon, Annika, Nya, Noah and Karis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear praying friends, Here is an update from our co-workers to fuel your prayers for the Mengen church. In these days we are church planting in new villages, the devil\u00a0doesn\u2019t like this and there is resistance. We are writing to call you to very specific prayer in these days as we have a number of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":604,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1223,4,638,58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-mengen-lele-village","category-ministry","category-papua-new-guinea","category-prayer-requests","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/simon-flanagan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/simon-flanagan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/simon-flanagan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/simon-flanagan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/604"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/simon-flanagan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/simon-flanagan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1209\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/simon-flanagan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/simon-flanagan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/simon-flanagan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}