This week, we\u2019ve been hearing about many different beliefs found throughout the world that contradict the truth of God and His Word.<\/p>\n
One such belief has been called \u201cthe Cargo Cult\u201d and is in reality simply materialism. The ultimate goal is the \u201ccargo\u201d or the wealth of possessions. This comes in many forms in every culture around the world! In America we have the \u201cAmerican Dream\u201d, which is what? Yeah! To get what \u201cthey\u201d have! Here in PNG it isn\u2019t much different. Other countries seem to have more. Other people seem to have more. So how can we find the \u201csecret\u201d to getting all that they have? And our materialism combines with other beliefs to create a belief system that conflicts with what God has said. God said that our \u201ctreasures\u201d (what things we hold most important in our lives) ought to be of eternal things not temporary and earthly. He also warns us that we cannot serve two masters\u2014we cannot serve Him and serve materialism. He also tells us to serve one another and to \u201cprefer one another\u201d over ourselves. We cannot do this if we are consumed with getting all we can get for ourselves. He tells us to \u201crejoice always\u201d which we cannot do if we are always thinking about what \u201cthey\u201d have and what I want. And it\u2019s so easy to go there! \u201cIf only\u2026\u201d is a very dangerous statement!<\/p>\n
However, this week we heard an amazing story about one of the bush churches! This materialism saturated several of their long-held beliefs. Just a few years ago, when the missionaries first began in the village, the people believed that if they got close to the missionaries and listened to their teachings they might be able to learn the secret of getting the \u201ccargo.\u201d This year, at a teacher training seminar that brought together many different church groups and cultural groups, they saw for themselves that the body of Christ is bigger than the area they know of! As the people gathered, one of the missionary wives noticed a growing pile of bags and odds-and-ends on one side of the village and asked about it. \u201cOh!\u201d they said, \u201cLast year we had heard about a tribe that is many hours walk from the road and from town and it is very hard for them to get what they need. The believers up there really don\u2019t have much of anything and getting what they need is difficult for them. So we spread the word that we are collecting things to take up there to them!\u201d They had a mountain of bags containing clothing, blankets, shoes, cooking containers and dishes; there were bush knives and shovels. One boy had been given an acoustic guitar by one of the missionary women. He approached her that day and asked if she would permit him to give it to these believers. \u201cThey don\u2019t have any instruments to sing with. They still only have drums.\u201d (Of course she said yes!)<\/p>\n
This is a changed people with changed hearts! Possessions no longer motivate them as they once did! Instead, they demonstrated that the love of God now fills them! What a mighty God we serve! Praise the Lord for the beauty of their sacrifice!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This week, we\u2019ve been hearing about many different beliefs found throughout the world that contradict the truth of God and His Word. One such belief has been called \u201cthe Cargo Cult\u201d and is in reality simply materialism. The ultimate goal is the \u201ccargo\u201d or the wealth of possessions. This comes in many forms in every […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1120,"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":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-648","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/tobi-magill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/tobi-magill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/tobi-magill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/tobi-magill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/tobi-magill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/tobi-magill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/tobi-magill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/tobi-magill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/tobi-magill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}