Newsletter

Mission Trip Planned & Prayer Requests

Everything is planned for our mission trip to Kenya. We are leaving on October 7th and flying from Duluth and Omaha to Detroit, Amersterdam and Nairobi. There are seven people going: Pastor Joshua & Hannah Chege & Laurel Robinson from Duluth, Jacklyn Ann Tolzmann from Two Harbors, and Pastors John Mitchell, Val Munson & myself.

Let me repeat here the prayer requests from the previous issues updated as necessary:

1. Pray for Joshua & Hannah, Laurel, Jacklyn, John, Val & myself. Please pray for our wives/husbands and our children also.

2. Pray for Joshua as he getting visas for all of us. We have our tickets.

3. Pray for the people who will be coming to the services, that many will be saved and the Christians strengthened.

4. Especially pray for the pastors’ conference which will be held at Maingi Kijabe the first weekend.

5. Pray against the terrorists and for the safety of all connected with this trip, including the natives.

6. Pray for safe travel both ways and while we are there.

7. I will be spending one week with Pastor Francis & Hannah Macharia, & family. Please pray for their ministry. Only about 20 of the orphans have remained.

8. Give as you can by Sept. 25th. We are still short about 750.00 of the total amount. PTL for what has been given! Hallelujah!!!

We will be conducting a Pastors’ Conference on the first weekend including several ordinations. Following this we will be visiting churches to hold evangelism services and reaching out into new areas to possibly begin new churches. Your prayers are of utmost importance.

Santhosh & Mani's Visit was very enjoyable!

We all had a very enjoyable time at the Clifton’s for the Silas Picnic. There were about 28 people that came and Mani sang a song in Indian. Santhosh shared his testimony and the story of missions in India. A love offering was received of over $600. Let me share a little here of what Santhosh shared.

India is a great country but the people are enslaved by false religious values and poverty. I know I have mentioned this before but it is interesting the way Santhosh became a Christian. He says that it was by direct revelation of Christ. That is the way it was with the Apostle Paul too. “Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and forever.” Santhosh did not know any pastors, missionaries or lay people. He was taken to heaven by two angels and left standing before the Throne. He said that he was frightened because at that time he was an avowed atheist. Then a Man approached him and said, “Welcome! I am going to show you two cities, Bethlehem and Jerusalem.” Santhosh did not know what the words meant. He had never heard them before. Suddenly they were there and Jesus said, “Bethlehem is My birthplace, Jerusalem is where I died, but I AM alive. Now you go and tell people about Me and I will be with you.” Then He took him back to earth.

Santhosh had been gone three hours. His father hugged him and said, “My son, you died and were raised again!” Santhosh said, “I don’t know, but this is what happened to me. Jesus Christ is real!” Then he told the story of what happened. His father listened carefully and then told him what he, his father, had done. His father knew he was sick and when the angels left he thought his son was in a coma so he called the doctor. Two of them came and checked his pulse and nervous system and said that there was nothing they could do because he was dead. Both of his parents became frantic at this point and his father laid his hands on his body and said, “Lord, if you will raise my son I will give him to you to do mission work, and not only him but I give all my children to you. Please, forgive me for my sins and please, Lord, help us.” (His father had heard the gospel at one time but had become a backslider.)

His prayer was answered and Santhosh has been serving the Lord ever since, also his brothers and sister. Together they now have ministered in at least 250 villages. The church which he serves, along with one of his brothers, has over 250 members. It is surrounded by Hindu Temples. Only about 3% of the total population is Christian. He says that there are 700,000 villages in India; over 600,000 have never heard the gospel. They have also begun a ministry serving 5 Children’s’ Homes or 100 orphans, conducting 2 Bible Schools, leading 15 Sewing Centers, and have established two Health Clinics. They have also given help to the lepers and are supporting over 50 full time pastors.

They are currently building a new Retreat Center/church, Children’s’ Home and Bible School which will take about $60,000 to partially complete. You can contact Pastor Santhosh Desabattula at:

Gospel to the Ends of the Earth
C/O Universal Church Ministries
P.O. Box 16, Gajuwaka
Visakhapatnam – 530 026
Andhra Pradesh, INDIA

Website: www.indiaucm.org

Or you can send your donation to:

Gospel to the Ends of the Earth
Manna Christian Missions
10421 Pennsylvania Ave.
Bonita Springs, FL
34135-4905

My heart especially goes out to the lepers. Here in the US, the disease is almost unheard of, but there, it is everywhere. If someone gets sick and does not go to the hospital right away, and they usually do not, the disease becomes advanced so that help is minimal. They are afraid and many cannot afford medical help. As the disease advances they have to leave home because if it is known that one of the parents has leprosy no one will want to marry their children. Marriages are planned by the parents. Thus the whole family is affected.

Then, to make matters worse, they have to live in a leper colony and beg for a living. They must keep at least 10 feet away from whoever they are begging from for food, clothing, or such minimal medical help as they can be given. They are not permitted to use city water and so must go to the river to bath and wash the few clothes they have. And they must go at night when the rest of the city is sleeping. This is the same river that raw sewage flows into from the city. Water buffalo, cows and other animals wade in it during the day, defecating at will. Needless to say they don’t practice good hygiene. Then they have to go back to the leper colony to sleep during the day. When are they supposed to beg?

Santhosh handed out 200 blankets to the leper colony last winter from us. And he feeds each leper colony once a week. There are four of them in Visakhapatnam. He can do more only as money is available. I am just amazed at what the Lord has accomplished through him, all in about the same length of time that we have been in Omaha. Truly the anointing of the Lord has been upon this man. I have an invitation from him to speak at the Pastors Convention in India from January 26 – 29, 2010. If it is God’s will that I should accept this invitation, I will. Please be much in prayer about this.

Storm Warning

Part II, continued from last issue.
     This is the title of a book written by Billy Graham. He asks this haunting question: “are you living according to God’s word in your everyday life?”
     We pick up where we left off last time. He continues with the churches of “Pergamum, Thyatira, and Sardis: The Call to Righteousness.” Rev. 2:12, 2:18 & 3:1 ff.
     John writes, “While the Christians at Ephesus and Laodicea were orthodox and comfortable, the churches at Pergamum, Thyatira and Sardis were apparently victims of their runaway physical passions that led to idolatry and immorality…
     “Christ found something or someone in all three churches to commend. Many people who have studied these passages tend to think of these three churches as being fallen and sinful, unlike our churches in every way. But that wasn’t the case. There was much about these churches that was commendable. Still they were in serious trouble – especially in light of what lay ahead – and they didn’t even know it. The parallels between the churches of that day and our own may actually be much too close for comfort.
     “To the Christians in Pergamum John writes, ‘I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold the teachings of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality. Likewise you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans’
     “To the people in Thyatira he writes, ‘I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality…’
     “To those in Sardis he writes, “You are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains… for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God.’
     “One commentator describes Balaam as an example of compromise with false religion. The Nicolaitans were first century followers of a similar false prophet who taught the Christians to give in to the practices of tipping their hats to the false gods of the city (and their immoral sexual practices) so that the gospel might be more acceptable to the people.
     “…Now someone in Thyatira whom John nicknamed ‘Jezebel’ was teaching those first century Christians to give in to the worship of the gods of the city and to their immoral sexual practices. The people were standing by, allowing, even obeying her.
     “…Why offend our neighbors by ignoring – or worse, by condemning – their religious beliefs? …Why be so rigid? Why not worship the one true God in private while simply nodding good naturedly in the direction of false gods on every corner?
     “Why all the fuss about sexual immorality? …Temple prostitutes were provided as a courtesy… Men had wives and concubines. The wives were for raising families. The concubines were for sexual pleasure.
     “There is only one passion that can help us control the many other passions which plague us; that is the passion to know and obey God. When this primary passion grows cold, we give in to our lower passions. When we get out of contact with Christ, we try to fill the void with other things. We read about it every day in the newspapers and watch it on our television screens.
     “Today there are many people, even in so-called Christian countries, who are turning to Satan worship to try to fill the longings that only God can satisfy. Not even human love can satisfy the longing for God’s love that we feel. Instead of turning back to the Father’s love, we begin a mad, promiscuous search for the perfect human lover. Idolatry is closely connected to immorality: When the natural love of God is perverted, men and women seek substitutes – any substitute.”

“The call to righteous-ness” is the call of the Holy Spirit. He calls us to righteous living.

When we fall He calls us to repentance. It is serious business, a life and death matter. There are temptations all around us, especially on TV and the computer. We need the Holy Spirit to keep us strong in the faith, lead us to the Saving Grace of Christ and teach us regularly the Word, the Bible.
Many churches today want to emphasize the positive. This is all well and good. “Living according to God’s word in everyday life,” but we must remember that the call to righteousness is also a call to forsake sin. Both are necessary even though the emphasis needs to be on the positive.
“Inevitably, I find the person who is passionately following the Master will be better able to master his or her passions than the person whose ‘first love’ has died. Invariably, I find the person who is involved in irresponsible, destructive and debasing practices is the person who is falling out of love with Christ and is trying to fill the empty space with other things, even trying to fill the spiritual emptiness with sexual excitement.

It will not work! Only God’s love can fill the empty space… The Scripture makes it clear that our ‘first love’ is always to be our Lord.”

The letters to the last two churches from Revelation which Graham mentions in his book are “Smyrna and Philadelphia, The Problem of Suffering.” Rev. 2:8 and 3:7 ff.
     “We do know that both of these churches were faithful. There is not one word of criticism in the letters to the Christians in either church. John writes to Smyrna, ‘I know your afflictions and your poverty – yet you are rich!’ (Rev. 2:9) To Philadelphia he writes, ‘I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.’ (Rev. 3:8)…
     “The irony of these two letters is immediately apparent. In the stormy times to come – or as John writes to Philadelphia, in ‘the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test those who live on the earth’ – one church (Smyrna) will face terrible suffering. The other church (Philadelphia) will escape unscathed. All of the assumptions we can make about suffering are tested by these two short letters. Both churches seem equally faithful. Yet one will suffer ‘even unto death.’ The other will not suffer at all.
     “But this seeming inequality has precedent in the Scripture. In Hebrews 11 we have a long list of people whom God delivered. But in verse 35 the writer says, ‘Others were tortured and refused to be released…
     “In these passages and others we are reminded that suffering has a mysterious, unknown component. John, too, assumes that suffering is a natural part of the Christian faith. He doesn’t question why one church suffers and another does not. He doesn’t even expect God to rescue Smyrna from suffering, yet he credits God with protecting Philadelphia from the suffering that lies ahead.
     “John simply delivers the bad news to Smyrna – ‘the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death.’ He gives good news to Philadelphia – ‘I will also keep you from the hour of trial’ (Rev. 2:10; 3:10). Suffering is simply a fact. To both churches Christ’s advice is simple. To Smyrna: ‘Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.’ (Rev. 2:10) To Philadelphia: ‘Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.’ (Rev. 3:11)
     “There are several applications here that we must not overlook in our own times of trouble.
First, expect suffering. Don’t feel surprised, put upon, proud, or afraid. Suffering is part and parcel of the Christine life.
Second, don’t look at anyone else and what he or she does or doesn’t have to bear; comparisons are demoralizing either way.
Third, recognize that it doesn’t take great wealth or social influence to be faithful (note how few resources these two churches had), but it does take patience and endurance. Remember, one aspect of the fruit of the Spirit is patience (Galatians 5:22).
Fourth, remember that one day earthly suffering will end and the second death, the eternal death of the spirit, will not touch us.
Fifth, keep in mind that, when one bears suffering faithfully, God is glorified and honored. The suffering servants of Christ will be honored in a special way and will be given a new name which ‘no man knows except he that receives it.’
     “Perhaps you have faced pain or suffering you did not understand. You may even have become angry at God for allowing it to happen while others have escaped such problems. Don’t let the acids of bitterness eat away inside of you. Instead, learn the secret of trusting Christ in every circumstance.”
     If I don’t watch it this book report is going to be longer than the book. Well, I doubt it as there are 313 pages in the book. But I like what Graham says about the seven churches and especially the five points above about suffering. I hope you do to. It is amazing to me what another perspective can add to ones understanding, especially on suffering. I think his writing is clear enough. I don’t have to add anything.
     I am going to add a couple more paragraphs and then we will skip to the four horsemen from Revelation 6 for next time.
     On page 117 Graham continues, “Nestled into the two chapters between the practical orders to the churches and the terrible warning of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse is the vision that lies at the center of the believers’ hope and at the heart of the entire Revelation. If John was worried about the world and its condition, if he was concerned about the future and how his flock would overcome it, and if he was perplexed about the power of evil and the apparent weakness of the good on this planet, the next vision made all the difference. It offers equally great promise for our time.
     ‘“There before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it,’ wrote John… ‘Apparently, [he] was nearly blinded by the glory surrounding the throne… [He] didn’t bother to analyze what he saw. But what he heard he reported in detail. Those strong, angelic creatures never stopped chanting the words: ‘Holy, holy holy is the Lord God Almighty who was, and is, and is to come.’ Rev. 4:8
     “Whenever the living creatures gave ‘glory, honor and thanks to him who [sat] on the throne and who lives for ever and ever,’ the twenty-four elders fell down before Him and worshipped Him and lay their crowns before Him, saying, ‘You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.’ Rev. 4:11
     “…The national powers that we see hell-bent for destruction – amassing weapons, killing and being killed – are not the ultimate power. Nor are the individual figures who rule in our lives the ultimate powers… [we] will all one day stand powerless before this God of John’s vision…”
     It is reassuring to know that God is in control.

Memorial

Thank you very much for the memorial that has been given. In loving memory of Gene Walter, $100, by his wife, Marge and family. It is our prayer that God will richly bless the memory of your loved one to both family and friends.

Truth Project - Taught on Monday evenings

Beginning on September l4th at 7:00 pm, we will be offering the “Truth Project” at our home. A free will offering will be received for Silas Ministries, which is paying for this.

Most of you know what the “Truth Project” is about – LIFE AND GOD. Focus on the Family has provided an excellent series. It takes 12 weeks to finish the course and we'll meet twice a month.

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The Prayer Beacon is the newsletter of Silas Ministries and is sent free of charge to anyone who would like to receive a copy. There is no charge! If you would like to send a donation to Silas Ministries (a ministry of ECHM, Inc., which is a non-profit tax deductible corporation), please make your check payable to SILAS MINISTRIES and send to 7713 Elm Drive, LaVista, NE 68128-2845.

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