Brutal Honesty

"Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial (Satan)? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people." 2 Corinthians 6:14-16

The past two weeks have been a struggle for me in regards to the nastiness of sin and syncretism (mixing of religious beliefs in order to accomodate one's wants and desires). As Christians we are called to be light in a dark world, but many times we just get comfortable with the "dusk" and not satisfied with pure light. We become numb to the sin around us and just accept it and are not burdened with the weight of lostness that surrounds us.

God has rocked my world in the past days and given me a HUGE wake up call. Yes, I know, I am a missionary, and my job is to tell people about Jesus. And you are probably thinking..."ok, if she is not telling people about Jesus everyday, what is she doing?" I admit, I am not out of the house everyday because the majority of my ministry is in the home. I am keeping the kids and the house and praying fervently for Kendall and the ministry that God has called us to. But the times when I do get out and am teaching and sharing, I do it, but I dont think I have been as "hard pressed" as I should have been.

Mwaba died, leaving behind parents that are struggling to remain married and are completely lost without Jesus. This has motivated me more in my conversations and time with Chilufiya. Zeria is passionate about sharing Jesus with her as well. Then a week later, our former guard, Tembo, his 15-month-old son, Samuel, died suddenly. My heart was once again shattered by the death of another baby. (I will never get used to or enjoy funerals.)

When I attended the burial for Samuel is the moment that my hatred and anger against Satan increased. We arrived at the house and the processional (on foot) had begun from Tembo's home to the graveyard. I was curious as to where Tembo's wife was and why she wasnt following behind the bicycle carrying Samuel. Not two minutes later, the sound of wailing and screaming "mwana wanga...mwana wanga!!!" (my baby, my baby) came from the house and then suddenly Tembo's wife came out of the house being held by two other women. I turned to Jenny and asked, "what is going on?!" She told me that the family had not even told Mrs. Tembo that they were burying Samuel and they told her that she could not attend his burial because this was her first child to die. Due to the "cultural traditions" of African Traditional Religion, if she attended the burial, her other child would die if she went. The mothers with young babies were also instructed to return to the home of Mrs. Tembo because their babies could not come to the graveyard (because of tradition).

I was livid, angry, mad, and so thankful that Zeria and Jenny love me and understand my frustrations with the African Traditional Religion because they both have been set free by the blood of Jesus Christ. I was angry because at the front of the processional people are singing praise songs to Jesus then at the back of the processional tradition of man and culture is being followed that is clearly not of Christ. I was fed up.

The passage that kept coming to mind was 2 Corinthians 6:14-16...light and darkness cannot have fellowship with one another and there is no agreement between the temple of God and idols. Kendall and I sat together discussing this whole situation and once again realized the battles that we are waging against the evil one and the hold that he still has on many Zambians.

Continue to pray for the Zambians that are "trapped" in tradition by family members. Pray that God's love would penetrate their hearts and set them free from this bondage. Pray for Kendall and I as we teach against tradition and encourage the following of God's Word alone. Pray for us as we continue to share Christ with those around us. Pray that we would be bold and focused in our times of personal evangelism. Pray that we would exemplify light in this dark place. Pray that God's Word would expose the sin and the lostness of those around us.

"This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." John 3:19-21