The Roe v. Wade movie available now onlivestream is an intense, chilling and frustrating documentary about how a cabal of liberal leaders harnessed the women’s movement and complicit media to ramrod abortion through the Supreme Court using fraudulent statistics and a demonization of Catholicism.
Stacey Dash performs poignantly the role of Dr. Mildred Jefferson, who fought abortion.
“I knew all along life exists at conception,” Dr. Bernard says in the movie. “I’d taken part in over 70,000 abortions. I knew in my heart that what I was doing was wrong, and I lied. I lied to the world, I lied to God, I lied to me. But I kept on killing until I had the courage to face the absolute horror of what I was doing.”
Dr. Bernard decided to bear the torch for abortion after he paid for his girlfriend to “terminate” her pregnancy. He teamed up with Larry Lader, the so-called Father of Abortion in America. A “disciple” of Margaret Sanger, Lader crusaded unscrupulously to push through his atheistic agenda. Both Nathanson and Lader made millions through abortions and referrals. The drive was never motivated by a woman’s right or health but by ego and greed, the movie shows.
Larry Lader and Dr. Nathanson teamed up to push abortion and make millions.
The nearly two-hour movie is unrelenting. There’s hardly a light moment. This is understandable given the gargantuan devastation abortion has perpetrated in America. Since Roe v. Wade in 1973, an estimated 64 million babies have been aborted. Every 30 seconds a baby is aborted. African American babies account for 40% of abortions. Planned Parenthood made $1.6 billion last year, according to statistics provided in the movie.
The Supreme Court justices had conflicts of interest in their families to vote on the issue.
In one grim moment, Dr. Nathanson and Lader share a joke jingle from med school:
There’s a fortune in abortion
Just a twist of the wrist and you’re through
The population of the nation
Won’t grow if it’s left up to you.
There’s a gold mine in the sex line
You never bother for the father.
Much of the movie focuses on how supreme court justices caved under pressure and voted despite having family members volunteering for Planned Parenthood, an obvious conflict of interest. It also shows how D.A. Wade’s attorney failed to call expert witnesses to discuss how life starts at conception, bungling the lawsuit in its early stages.
In a moment of sincerity, Larry Lader brags about how he manipulated the nation to get abortion through.
Another part of the movie focuses on how lawyers unethically used Norma McCorvey, under the court-shrouded name Jane Roe, to bring a case even when she was no longer pregnant. McCorvey gave birth to the child. McCorvey later turned against the pro-choice movement, favoring life.
Already, the secular media is slamming Roe v. Wade as conspiracy theory, but the movie’s website has its own fact-check page where it provides the documentation for their allegations (see God Reports’ analysis of the manipulations that got the Supreme decision through).
The movie features a star-studded cast: Jon Voight plays Justice Burger and Stacey Dash portrays Dr. Mildred Jefferson, who as founder of the National Right to Life Committee squared off against Dr. Nathanson.
In a dramatic scene that represents a turning point for Dr. Nathanson, Dr. Jefferson confronts him about the lies and rationalizations he’s used to kill unborn babies. Dr. Nathanson defends himself against her accusing questions, saying that he even aborted his own girlfriend’s baby. But the scene flashes back to the actual occurrence and shows that remorse is beginning to crack his façade.
Roe v. Wade is a must-see for Christians. It is brilliantly written and directed, though it bogs down somewhat amidst the legal wrangling. It could use a bit more of the heroic aspects in this drama, but the lack of optimism is understandable given the on-going onslaught of lies in the media and by liberal politicians perpetrating this culture of death.
The dramatic search and rescue of Adul Sam-on, 11 members of his soccer team and their coach trapped in a Thai cave in June 2018 thrust them into the international spotlight and changed their lives. Adul, the only English speaker in the group, communicated with the rescuers when they were found nine days later. All photos courtesy of Adul Sam-on unless otherwise stated.
The darkness was overwhelming. The silence deafening. The air was cold.
This was how Adul Sam-on, then 14, described being trapped in the Tham Luang cave underneath a mountain range in Chiang Rai, Thailand, with no way out.
On June 23, 2018, Adul, his eleven teammates from the Wild Boars football team – between the ages of 11 and 17 – and their assistant coach, 25, went to explore the snaking 10.3km-long cave system. But were forced deeper in and stranded by rising waters.
Adul moved to the US last year. He will be moving into his sophomore year in college soon.
As the Thai cave boys – as they came to be known – lost count of days in the dark and hoped to be found, the world prayed, watched and waited as the dramatic search and rescue efforts by Thai and international teams unfolded.
But for Adul, now 17, his story of hope began a long time before the cave incident three years ago.
Across the border
Adul was born in the southern region of the self-governing Wa state of Myanmar. It shares the border with Thailand.
When Adul was three years old, his parents gave his auntie, Yex Kap Htane, their blessings to take Adul across the border to Thailand to give him a shot at a better life.
Ps Go (left) and wife, Yex Kap (right), praying over Adul on his birthday. Photo courtesy of Ps Go Shin Maung.
Yex and her husband, Ps Go Shin Muang, raised Adul as their own, becoming his “second set of parents”.
The couple, now in their 40s, received a calling from God to move from Myanmar to Chiang Rai to start Maesai Grace Church for Wa migrants.
Adul’s story of hope began a long time before the cave incident.
They also started a schooling programme to care for and give a brighter future to the children of Wa natives who have either moved to Mae Sai to work or who are stuck in Wa.
According to a Human Rights Watch report, Wa was notorious for inducting children into its military wing.
“These children don’t even have a chance to grow up and straight away they become child soldiers,” Ps Go told Salt&Light. “That is no future for a child.”
Adul grew up enjoying a childhood and getting a basic education that he would not have had in Wa.
Life, according to Adul, was simple and laid back. He attended classes from morning till afternoon before soccer practice. Afterwards, he would return to the church hostel for dinner and quiet time before turning in for the night.
No way out
That simple life would never be the same after June 23, 2018.
The Wild Boars had just finished a training session and decided to explore a favourite haunt – the Tham Luang cave – with their assistant coach. The boys and their coach had often wandered deep into the snaking 10.3km-long cave system.
Adul (second from right) with his 11 teammates on one of their excursions to the cave. Photo from Facebook page of Nopparat Kantawong, head coach of the Wild Boars. He had not gone into the cave with the boys as he had another appointment that day.
What was supposed to be an hour-long excursion turned into a 17-day ordeal.
A flash flood forced the 13 deeper into the cave. The rising water level made it impossible for them to retrace their steps out of the cave. They were not able to find an alternative way out.
“What might be surprising is that none of us really panicked,” Adul told Salt&Light. “We just figured that we’d wait until the tide dropped, even if it’s for a night.”
When night fell, their worried parents started scrambling and asking each other: “Where were the Wild Boars?”
When they realised that the boys might have been stuck in the cave, they rushed to its entrance, where they discovered the boys’ bikes and belongings.
Adul’s simple life would never be the same after June 23, 2018.
Over at Maesai Grace Church, Ps Go’s initial reaction to the news was one of shock. All he could think of was to pray for their safety.
Ps Go mobilised prayer groups across the church to fast and intercede for the boys. He and other church members took turns to wait outside the cave for updates from the authorities.
Ps Go and his wife struggled to explain to Adul’s parents what exactly was happening. Communication was slow as Adul’s parents back in Wa had little access to the internet.
Ps Go and his wife also struggled with assuring them that their son would be safe, and the weight of guilt and responsibility if Adul did not make it out alive. Their nights were sleepless while Adul was trapped.
Someone will come
The group in the cave were marooned on an elevated rock 4km from its entrance. On some days, they felt hopeful. On others, not quite so.
He must have prayed The Lord’s Prayer and sung How Great is Our God “thousands of times” in the cave.
Doubt and panic grew the longer they waited, said Adul.
“It’s been so long. Really? Is nobody coming?” they would say.
They knew that they were stuck. Their way into the cave was probably inaccessible.
What they did not know was that a monumental search and rescue effort was mounting outside the cave. It involved 10,000 people. They included the Thai navy, army, airforce and police, engineers, geologists, rescue specialists – from Thailand and overseas – and cave divers from countries that included Singapore, the UK, Belgium and Australia.
The search was complicated by heavy rainfall flooding the cave, cutting off rescuers from parts of it.
Adul, the only Christian in the group, turned to prayer and worship. He looked for a small space away from the others where he could do this.
“When the panic first set in, I just felt like I had to talk to God,” he said. “He gave me a very strong belief that someone would come for us.
Ps Go mobilised prayer groups across the church to fast and intercede for the boys.
“Even though the doubts and fears were there, this strange belief, something I never felt before the cave, was the strongest thing I felt.”
Adul also relied on The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13) and one of his favourite songs, How Great is Our God, for strength. He said that he must have prayed and sung them “thousands of times” in the cave.
In one of those quiet moments in the dark, he received a revelation about God’s plan.
“I couldn’t see much in the cave, and I realised that’s quite similar to how I can’t see God in real life. But I have to trust that He’s going to show His power and goodness at the end.”
Trapped without food
The group were trapped without food. They drank water dripping from the cave ceiling.
“I like how Jesus overcame his hunger and thirst just by praying and talking to God.”
As the days passed, the group found their hunger increasingly difficult to bear. Adul was encouraged by the story of Jesus being tempted in the desert. (Matthew 4:1-11).
“I like how Jesus overcame his hunger and thirst just by praying and talking to God.”
Looking back, Adul said: “Jesus had no food and drink for 40 days. I was only in there for a few days; I probably could have stayed for a while longer.”
Happy to see someone else
Thankfully, Adul and friends did not have to stay longer than 17 days. On July 2, 2018 – nine days after being trapped – a pair of British divers found the group.
Adul immediately bounced up when he saw the heads of two divers break the surface of the water.
“I was just so happy to see someone else.”
The rescue divers’ camera footage on discovering the Wild Boars. Screengrab of video from Thai Navy Seal Facebook.
Adul was the only English-speaker in the group. Through him, the others told the divers they wanted food, and learnt how long they had been in the cave.
Camera footage of the divers’ exchange with Adul and the group went viral when it was first released, bringing jubilation to millions around the world who were anxiously following the massive search effort. Adul captured hearts with his politeness and ability to speak English. He had picked up conversational English while interacting with missionaries who had visited Maesai Grace. He also speaks Thai, Burmese, Mandarin and Wa.
The divers spent some time with them before leaving their lights behind, along with promises to return with food and help.
Mission impossible
When Ps Go heard the news that the boys were alive, he was able to assure Adul’s parents that their son was safe.
“God showed that He’s faithful, He answered our prayers,” said Ps Go.
“Sometimes I forget that I really didn’t do anything to deserve this. All I did was get stuck in a cave!”
Rescuers then strategised how to bring the 13 – who had no experience diving – out of the flooded, rocky and winding labyrinth that would more than challenge even experienced cave divers. It was was deemed mission impossible by many.
The death of a former Thai Navy Seal diver – who lost consciousness after placing oxygen tanks along the rescue route – highlighted the danger and risk of the extraction. Later in the year, a Thai Navy Seal would die from a blood infection he contracted during the operation.
Rescuers had to move quickly with more rain expected to totally flood the cave. In a complex, elaborate operation that involved a chain of nearly 100 divers, the group were extracted from the labyrinth in stages over three days.
Each Wild Boar was given a full-face mask to ensure that they could breathe, was secured to a stretcher and sedated to prevent them from panicking.
The last boy and the coach were released from the cave on July 10, 2018. Their ordeal had lasted 17 days.
A new life, a new continent
Adul’s life now is a far cry from what it was before the cave incident. He attributes it solely to God.
“Sometimes I forget that I really didn’t do anything to deserve this. All I did was get stuck in a cave!” he said half in jest.
“But then I remember that this is God blessing me and I am just so grateful.”
“God showed that He’s faithful, He answered our prayers.”
Adul, who was previously considered stateless in Thailand, was granted Thai citizenship, along with two of the Wild Boars and their coach.
He has also been blessed by a family in the United States who were moved to sponsor his college education and boarding. He moved to New York state last year, and will soon be entering his sophomore year.
As part of his gratitude to God, Adul sees it as his duty to share his story.
Already, it has borne fruit. Adul’s English tutor came to accept Christ and was baptised at Maesai Grace, said Ps Go.
Adul (back row on the left) with his neighbours in the US.
Adul hopes that his story will inspire many more.
“We can’t believe in God only after He does something amazing. We have to believe in Him even though we can’t see or know what He’s doing,” he said.
For Adul, that was especially when the darkness was overwhelming, the silence deafening and the air was cold.
Silas is an undergraduate studying business. His internship at Salt&Light is a step towards discovering what purpose in God looks like and what it means. He is secretly hoping that it lies in eating fried chicken for a living.
When a man named Tazeem was listening to the radio one day, he heard a Christian share the gospel in his own language.
The message was about God’s love for people, forgiveness in Jesus and the power of prayer, and it deeply encouraged him. He wanted to know more, but never found the radio broadcast again. Nevertheless, he started to share the message he had heard with others in his village.
On one of those occasions he met an elderly woman who sometimes would sing praise songs to God. This was not common in a Muslim community. When she heard Tazeem share the message he had heard on the radio she smiled broadly and said: “So now there are two of us here, and you can worship God together with me. From now on you are my son!”
Neither Tazeem nor his new friend owned a Bible. But the woman – whom he affectionately referred to as ‘Old Mother’ – had learned some of the chronological storytelling from a brief exposure to church planters in another community. The two of them began working together to share what they knew of God’s Word with their friends and neighbors. They had a very simple message: “Come to Jesus. This is the right way. Just come!”
One day, the mother of the sheikh in the town began to manifest demonic spirits. She was taken to the witch doctors, and then to the Muslim marabouts who read the Qur’an to her, but to no avail. In a brief moment of lucidity she exclaimed: “I must go to the home of Old Mother and her boy!” And with that one brief sentence she ran from the sheikh’s home straight to the Christian woman’s house.
The demonized woman, however, was deeply in the clutches of the enemy. The moment she crossed the threshold of the Christian’s home, her body froze and she collapsed helpless on the floor. For eight days she lay on a sleeping mat, unable to move. She did not eat, speak or use the latrine. She was in a fixed position while Tazeem and ‘Old Mother’ prayed. Then suddenly, on the eighth day, the evil spirits left her. She stood up and spoke, and the faithful Christians began to minister to her needs.
Word went throughout the village instantaneously: “The sheikh’s mother is healed! The spirits have been defeated!”
The sheikh heard the news and came running. When he saw his mother eating and in her right mind, he immediately collapsed to his knees and begged Tazeem to teach him about his God. And that day, both the sheikh and his mother became followers of Jesus.
The news spread quickly, and people from the village began to flood the Christian woman’s home, seeking healings and deliverance from evil influences through the power of her God. The little hut looked like an outpatient clinic, a hospital for body and soul.
But the Muslim leaders in the area had also heard about the sheikh’s ‘betrayal of Islam’, and they brought together a committee to deal with him. They armed themselves with spears, knives and guns, and set out to find the Christian sheikh. Luckily, he was warned in time and found sanctuary in the police station. When the police wanted to arrest the murderous party, he stepped forward and said: “Please, do not arrest them. I have already forgiven them! As long as they do me no harm, I do not want to take them before the magistrates.”
Today that former sheikh is planting churches, and those churches are multiplying. In that area of 70 villages, there are now 17 small churches with about 125 new Christians. Persecution is still present, but there is a foothold of the gospel in this challenging place.
Source: Tazeem, interviewed by Jerry Trousdale for his book ‘Miraculous Movements’
Joel News – Inspiring stories on the advance of God’s Kingdom around the globe today, delivered once a week in your mailbox. We cover all continents and serve mission-minded Christians in over 100 nations.
Many years ago, God spoke to me to go to the north of Israel where Hezbollah was entrenched in Lebanon to preach the Gospel. I was told by Israeli intelligence that if I did, I would be killed. I knew the Lord had sent me and would protect me, and He did. After preaching the Gospel in Sidon, I went down to Beirut to distribute Gideon Bibles to the Marines and share the Word and pray with them. That night, as I prepared to sleep on the beachhead, I thought about an 18-year-old Marine from Worchester, Massachusetts, whom I had led to Christ. His last words to me that evening had been, “Please tell Mom that her prayer has been answered. I’ve given my life to the Lord as my personal Saviour.”
*
Early the next morning, the area was rocked by a huge explosion as Hezbollah terrorists targeted the barracks with a truck bomb. Two hundred and forty-one troops were killed in the attack. We left Beirut in the Avis vehicle which I had rented in Jerusalem. Driving down a dirt road towards Israel, we came under fire from terrorist organizations in the area. As 135mm shells fell around the car, I realized ours was the only vehicle on the road, and it was a rental car with distinctive Jerusalem license plates. Spotlights were playing across the vehicle as night descended. We ran out of fuel, and it looked as if we would be killed.
*
As we prayed, a young man who looked Arabic knocked on the window and held up a gas can. There were no homes or villages near where we had coasted to a stop. He poured the container of fuel into the vehicle, came back to the window, and pointed to the button. I unlocked the door, and he climbed into the car. Without saying a word, he pointed in the direction we were to drive and calmly led us 32 kilometers to the border of Israel. There is no way I could have found it without his help. A few yards before the border, he held up his hand indicating that I should stop. He opened the door and stepped out of the car.
*
The colonel at the border said to me, “I informed the prime minister’s office that you had died. I didn’t think there was any possibility you could have survived.”
I turned and pointed to the man who had saved our lives and said, “We are alive because of him.” No one was there! You will never know how many angels God has assigned to protect you, the amazing things they have done on your behalf, and will do even today. Those who fight against you shall not prevail, for the Lord is with you to deliver you.
We sometimes forget that angels are active on earth as well as in heaven, as with Abraham, Jacob, Daniel and more. Angels helped Jesus many times (eg after wilderness temptation and in Gethsemane), and appeared to women at the empty tomb, and helped Peter in prison.
By Mark Ellis –
When Russell Morse and his wife Gertrude first went into “the closed land” of Tibet in the 1920s, they travelled on pack animals and sedan chairs with their two young sons from Kunming to Batang, on the Sino-Tibetan frontier.
During their first night of the journey they planned to stay in a temple at Leh, “but found that three very suspicious-looking men had already moved in,” according to Gertrude Morse’s account in her faith-building book, The Dogs May Bark: But the Caravan Moves On.
“It was feared they might be spies for a band of robbers,” she noted. Therefore, they shifted their plans and stayed the night at a headman’s house in Tea Tree Mountain Village.
Robbers were known to occupy their route, so the next morning, Russell sent two men ahead to check their path in an area where robbers usually ambushed and robbed people.
On the second night they camped near Drubalong, and slept very soundly in their three-in-one tent. Their Tibetan companions, however, did not sleep so well and got up several times that night to check for signs of any prowling thieves.
After she woke up, Gertrude asked one of the men, “Did you see any robbers?”
“There certainly were robbers around, but they did not bother us,” was his reply.
“How did that happen? Did some of our Tibetan friends stand guard?” she wondered.
“No, but a very excellent watchman helped me through the night,” he said, with a wry smile.
“Do you know who it was,” Gertrude asked.
“No I don’t. In the morning he was gone.”
On their return journey, a few local residents from the area quietly approached the Morse’s helpers and questioned them.
“Who were the guards around your camp when you went through here before?” they asked.
“We had no guards except ourselves,” was the reply.
“But we saw them! They were very big and tall, all dressed in white. The bandits had planned to attack and rob your party, but when they saw those big guards they were frightened, and didn’t dare bother you.”
When Gertrude and Russell heard this remarkable account, it further confirmed God’s care and provision for them as pioneering missionaries.
Gertrude thought of Hebrews 1:14: “…God’s ministering spirits (angels) sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation.”
To get a copy of Gertrude’s book, The Dogs May Bark, go here
Reports continue about churches coming to life during the coronavirus pandemic. New and revived forms of evangelism and welfare abound.
UK: Pandemic brings British churches back to life
Public attitudes to churches have changed for the better with faith groups winning praise for their response to the pandemic.
More than a third of non-Christians (34%) now agree that local churches are making a positive difference in their community – up from 20% three years ago. During this time the overall share of UK adults who think churches are helping their community has gone up from 35% to 42%, according to a study by Savanta ComRes.
The research, commissioned by YourNeighbour – a network of more than 1,000 churches across over 40 denominations – and the children’s charity World Vision, found people had clear ideas about how churches could help meet needs in their communities. They said churches could provide events for the elderly, homeless services, and collect and distribute food, clothes and toys.
The findings come as churches across the denominational divide have joined together to help people get through the pandemic by supporting the Give Hope campaign.
Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove praised the contribution of churches as the country battles Covid-19, saying: “The Church has been there for all of us – it’s been burying our dead, it’s been comforting the bereaved, it’s been feeding the poor and it’s been praying for the nation. And now the Church is determined to play a critical, central and important role in building back better and enabling us to come out of this pandemic and to be a stronger and more united nation.”
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer also applauded the contribution of faith groups during the pandemic, saying: “It has been wonderful to see how churches have adapted to meet the needs of our communities, with countless examples of them stepping up. Now we have the vaccine, it’s a very powerful thing to see churches transforming into vaccine centres, congregations volunteering and leaders offering the hope we need.”
Source: David Williamson
UK: Stories of answered prayer spread hope during Covid-19
Stories of answered prayer are bringing hope to millions of people during the current lockdown.
The Answered Prayer Campaign was launched in the UK on 25 January and went viral in the first 24 hours, with posts containing the hashtags #answeredprayerchallenge and #makehopevisible reaching 1.3 million people. It is a joint initiative of Premier Christian Media and the Eternal Wall of Answered Prayer. Founder Richard Gamble said they want to gather answered prayers from Christians across the world, “to demonstrate that Jesus is alive and relevant today as he ever was.”
Evangelical Alliance director Gavin Calver was one of the Christians who have shared their stories of answered prayer. He recalled one answered prayer as a child that would shape his faith for years to come.
“The prayer that was answered most powerfully that I can remember, was as a nine-year-old boy at Spring Harvest,” he said. At this Christian conference, after a teaching on prayer, “they said if there is anyone in your circle who wants to pray for healing, then do that. Immediately, my friend James ripped off his sock and said: ‘I want healing for my verruca to go.’ I remember thinking that I didn’t want to put my hand on his foot!”
“Nonetheless, we prayed and as a nine-year-old, believing that the Lord can do anything, I prayed that Jesus would take his verruca away. When I opened my eyes, I could not believe what I saw, as the verruca had disappeared. The faith that has grown from that encounter has led to me praying for all kinds of things, because I believe that God can change stuff.”
Source: Richard Gamble, Gavin Calver
Photo: The Eternal Wall of Answered Prayer is a large-scale monument to prayer being built in Coleshill, near Birmingham.
UK: 500 Churches welcome Hong Kong refugees
More than 500 churches in the United Kingdom have joined a nationwide initiative welcoming immigrants from Hong Kong.
The legal immigrants are fleeing a Chinese communist crackdown which has taken away the freedom of speech and religious liberties and has landed pro-democracy activists in prison. A website, UKHK.org, has been created to help the estimated 130,000 people expected to seek refuge in Britain this year.
Hundreds of churches signed up to be ‘Hong Kong Ready’ through the website which was launched after the UK government opened the door to Hong Kong holders of the British National Overseas (BNO) passport.
Source: Christian Today
#1204, March 3, 2021
Only Frequent Church Attendees Avoided Mental Health Downturn in 2020
According to a Gallup Poll released last week, those who attend church frequently were the only group of Americans that did not see the state of their mental health decline in 2020. The results of Gallup’s November Health and Healthcare survey, conducted annually since 2001, reveal that the share of Americans who classify their mental health as “excellent” has reached an all-time low of 34%. The share of Americans who describe their mental health as “excellent/good” has also reached a record low of 76%. Nearly every demographic subgroup saw the state of their mental health decrease from 2019 to 2020. However, among Americans who attend religious services weekly, 46% classified their mental health as excellent. That figure is an increase from the 42% who saw their mental health as excellent in 2019.
Those who attended church services weekly were also the group of Americans with the highest share of people who rated their mental health as excellent in 2020. Americans who made more than $100,000 a year came in a close second, with 45% describing their mental health as excellent. This represents a change from 2019, when Americans making $40,000 or more, white Americans, those over the age of 50, Americans who attend church services weekly or monthly, Republicans, political independents, married people and men all had higher shares of people who classified their mental health as excellent than the most religious Americans. In 2019, the share of frequent church attendees who believed that their mental health was excellent was actually identical to the share of Americans who seldom or never attend church services who said the same.
The groups where a lower share of respondents said that they had excellent mental health were women, Democrats, non-white Americans, unmarried people, people younger than 50, and those who made less than $40,000 a year. The increase in the number of religious Americans who identify their mental health as excellent comes as churches across the country have seen in-person worship services hindered by coronavirus restrictions imposed by the governors of their respective states. Religious Americans have seen some victories in recent weeks, with U.S. Supreme Court rulings striking down worship restrictions in New York and California. A recent survey conducted by the law firm Becket found that 74% of Generation Z respondents, the youngest group that have reached adulthood, described their faith as “somewhat important” during the pandemic.
Among seniors, white Americans, women and unmarried people, the share of people who described their mental health as excellent dropped by 10%. All other groups saw single-digit declines in the share of people who saw their mental health as excellent. “The latest weakening in positive ratings, from a November 5-19 poll, are undoubtedly influenced by the coronavirus pandemic, which continues to profoundly disrupt people’s lives, but may also reflect views of the elections and the state of race relations, both of which were on Americans’ minds this year,” the Gallup survey concluded. A random sample of 1,018 American adults living in all 50 states and the District of Columbia participated in the survey, which had a margin of error of +/- 4%.
God’s leading through an unusual dream and a miraculous meeting led to evangelizing a hidden tribe in the Philippines.
By Mark Ellis —
Caleb & Gladys Byerly with their children
In 2013 Caleb Byerly woke up with a start and began to furiously write in his journal everything he saw in a rather unusual dream. For the previous five years, the small-town North Carolina resident had been engaged in mission outreach to indigenous people and tribal areas in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands.
“In the dream, I was standing on top of this mountain. I was looking out across the mountain, and I saw a tribe of people,” he told The Unseen Story. Caleb and his wife, Gladys, live in Moravian Falls, a town of 1400 in the foothills of the Brushy Mountains.
He had never seen the tribe before, so he asked, “What tribe are you? What people are you?”
“We’re the Tinananon tribe,” they replied. Caleb had never heard of this people group and he began to carefully observe their actions in his dream.
A tribal chief walked forward carrying a musical instrument. Caleb happens to be an instrument maker by profession, so his eyes “zoomed in” to study the distinctive design of an instrument unlike anything he had ever seen before.
It had 30 strings going all the way around the top of a golden bowl, from the outside, crisscrossing in the middle of the instrument. “I suddenly got a full download of everything about this instrument, what dimensions the instrument was, what material it was made out of, even like how it was tuned and how it was played. After that, I kind of zoomed back out.
“This tribal chief, he took the instrument and he put it on the table. He took two small sticks, and he began to play this instrument. As he played the whole tribe started to dance and they started to worship. This kind of sound of worship just filled the place. It was as if heaven and earth just collided. After that I woke up from the dream.”
God has spoken to Caleb through dreams previously, so he meticulously recorded in his journal the name of the Tinananon tribe. He made detailed drawings of the bowl, its dimensions and materials, a wooden ring that goes around the bowl, the strings connected by wooden pegs, and the two sticks used to play the instrument.
“I feel like when God speaks to you, it’s an invitation to partner and walk with God. It’s not just God commanding you to do things or God just saying do this, do that. But it’s the Holy Spirit inviting you into some new journey that he’s calling you into, and it’s connected to you, it’s connected to your DNA and your calling. I really value that a lot. I really thought that this would be a really exciting thing to follow with the Lord.”
Caleb began to search online for any reference to a Tinananon people group but came up short. “I contacted different organizations like Wycliffe Bible Translators, and Summer Institute of Linguistics to see if they knew anything about this tribe. But everywhere I searched, I could not find that word. I tried the different spellings, but just couldn’t find anything there. So I kind of gave up on that.”
But as a professional instrument maker, he was intrigued by the idea of recreating the instrument he saw in the dream. “I’m gonna make this thing!” he decided. Even though he had not put metal and wood together in that way, he was up for the challenge.
“I got into my shop, and I just kept breaking this thing. I kept breaking things and snapping things. I could not figure out this one process. I got really frustrated. I was like, I’m just gonna put this thing to the side. I just couldn’t figure it out.
Caleb in his shop (Evergreen Missions)
“So, I kind of gave up on the whole dream. I felt like I had done my part. I wasn’t getting anywhere. So I just kind of gave it up.”
Trip to the Philippines
About six months later, he took a mission trip to the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines, an area where he had previously been involved in ministry.
“I was on a Jeepney, which is like a public transportation. There was this man that was sitting on the other side of me. I could tell this guy was staring at me. I was like, what’s this guy doing? Every time that I would look at him, he would like look away.”
Caleb knows the national language of the Philippines, Tagalog, so he spoke to the man. “As I was talking to him, it turns out that he’s a believer! So we’re chatting and then right in the middle of our conversation, I heard the Lord speak to me. It wasn’t an audible voice or anything. It was just felt.”
The Lord spoke to Caleb’s heart and said, I want you to ask that man about the Tinananon.
Inside, Caleb resisted. No, I’m not going to ask this man about the Tinananon, he thought. I’ve already tried to do all my research.
A second time the Lord nudged his heart, Ask this man about the Tinananon.
Caleb built up his courage and said meekly, “Sir, do you happen to know Tinananon?
As soon as he said he word Tinananon, the man’s eyes got really big.
He leaned in and said, “Hey, that’s my people — that’s my tribe! How do you know my people?”
Caleb was rendered speechless for a moment. “Tell me everything you know about your tribe.”
Manigos began to explain that his tribe lives in a deep mountainous region of Mindanao. “This area is a really dangerous place,” he said. “No one from outside goes to this place.” Manigos estimated his people group numbers between 70,000 and 100,000 people, scattered throughout the mountainous region in pockets.
Caleb invited Manigos to follow him to the place he was staying and showed him his journal entry with the word Tinananon.
Manigos began shaking his head, and tears streamed down his face.
He said, “Remember earlier on the bus, I kept looking at you.”
“Yes, what was that all about?”
“I kept looking at you, and the reason why is because I’ve seen you before…I just realized where I saw you, I also saw you in a dream.”
Manigos explained that was born in the Tinananon tribe. He left as a young man and went to Davao City, the largest city on the island of Mindanao, with 1.8 million people. He came to know Jesus while he lived in the city, then God called him back to his tribe through a dream.
In the dream, Manigos had gone back to evangelize his people – with Caleb! “He saw me in his dream,” Caleb said, “and I came and joined him. He and I began to minister and bring the good news of Jesus to his people.”
They were filled with wonder and awe at the way God brought them together. The two men stayed together for several days. “We all worshipped together and prayed together for a few days. Manigos invited Caleb to visit his tribe.
“Yeah, I would love to go to your tribe,” Caleb replied, “but I need to ask my wife first.” His wife, Gladys, was eight months pregnant at the time. Going on a potentially dangerous journey, immediately before the birth of their first child was a big decision they had to make.
After Caleb flew home to North Carolina, he and Gladys sought the Lord’s direction. “We felt like the Lord’s hand was on it,” he said. “And if the Lord showed this, up to this point, then He would continue to be with us. So I decided I was going to go, but I wanted to get back in the shop and try to make this instrument again.”
Caleb got very focused and asked the Holy Spirit to help him. “The Lord gave me wisdom, gave me insight on the process of what to do…with the help of the Holy Spirit and my wife, we were able to get it. I finally made this instrument!
He put the strings on it for the first time. “I tuned it up the way I heard it in the dream. I got the two little sticks. And I started to play it. It was that same sound, the same sound that I heard in the dream. And I was like, this is it. I was just really excited about it.”
Caleb bought a plane ticket and left the next day for the Philippines, taking the instrument with him.
He met a tribal friend named Ansulao and his new friend, Manigos, at the border of the mountain range closest to the tribe. “All three of us, we got on this one little motorbike. It was like 120 cc, a little motorbike.”
The motorbike they took into the mountains (Evergreen Missions)
A large storm had passed through the steep, undeveloped mountainous area the day before. “It was really muddy, very hard to get through there. And then while we were on this motorbike, another storm came. I was trying to hold this instrument, and I couldn’t hold it to my left or my right, so I had to put it above my head.
“Imagine three people on a little motorcycle. I was holding this musical instrument above my head trying to balance.”
They came to a hanging bridge, which consisted of two ropes and primitive wood planks. They managed to get across the bridge and were going up a steep hill, when the motorbike popped its gear and went into neutral.
Suddenly they were flying backward, toward the cliff. The motorbike wheel hit a rock and all three men went flying. “Thank the Lord, we landed in this smooth, green patch of grass, just feet away from the cliff, the drop-off cliff!”
As they entered the area of the Tinananon tribal group, Caleb heard the still small voice of the Lord once more: Caleb, I want you to take the instrument to the chief.
They started asking about how to find the chief’s house, which they learned was another three and a half hours away, on the other side of the mountain.
By the time they reached the chief’s house it was almost evening. Mud covered their clothing as they approached a small wooden house and knocked on the door.
When the chief opened the door he had a shocked expression on his face – especially to see an American in this remote area.
“We are, I am coming to your tribe for the first time,” Caleb said. “I just wanted to give this as a gift to you,” he said, holding the instrument in his outstretched arms, covered by a blanket.
The chief placed the instrument on a table and took the blanket off of it. “He saw this instrument and he started staring at it. He kept looking at this instrument over and over again. He kept asking me, ‘Where did you get this instrument from?”
“Well, I just kind of made it,” Caleb replied.
“No, no, I’m serious. Where did you get this instrument from?”
“Well, if you really want to know. Last year, I had this dream. In the dream I heard the name of your tribe, the Tinananon, for the first time. I’d never heard that word before. I also saw this musical instrument in the dream. I felt like my God has given this dream to me.
“After that I met this man, Manigos, who is from your tribe, and he helped me lead me to your house today. I was able to make this instrument. I just felt like I wanted to give this instrument to you today.”
The chief continued shaking his head in disbelief, examining the instrument carefully, asking questions about it. He summoned other leaders from the Tinananon tribe and they walked around it incredulously, pointing at it, saying “Salimbaa.”
“They have their own native tongue,” Caleb notes. “And I don’t totally understand their language. So I was pretty lost about what they were talking about.”
Finally, the chief motioned to them and said, “I need to show you something.” They left his house and went down a small pathway over to another structure.
“They call the house Paluvaran, which means House of Prayer in their language. This is the place where they worship. But it’s also sort of a storehouse of all their kind of ancient articles of their tribes. They have pottery work, metalwork, weaving, all these different things that are tangible evidence that their tribe has been living and existing for hundreds of years.
“I was amazed by this place. They had all these musical instruments on the side of the wall.” As a professional instrument maker, Caleb found it fascinating, incredible.
The chief informed him there were different musical instruments for each of their gods. “They have the god of the tree, the god of the stone, god of the river. And they’re not necessarily gods, but they believe that the one true God or the Creator has sent down angels to guard these different things like the angel of the river, the angel of the stone.
One of the musical instruments in the Paluvan along with traditional clothing (Evergreen Missions)
“Instead of praying and worshiping directly to God, they pray and worship to these different angels; the angels would be the ones to connect them to God. And so it’s a little bit different, but it’s not completely like they believe in many different gods, they believe in the one true God.”
Caleb noticed there was one spot that was empty on the wall between the other instruments. “They said that somewhere between 100 and 150 years ago, there was a tribal war. During this war, their most valuable musical instrument that worshiped the God of all gods was taken away from them.”
In response, they lamented for a time and created a song that goes something like this:
The Salimbaa was taken away from us,
God is going to redeem it back to us one day.
“It was a prophecy. This instrument is the instrument that worships the God of all gods. They said, ‘Today, you brought the Salimbaa to us!’”
Caleb was blown away. “Oh my goodness!” he exclaimed.
After that there was a small gathering of tribal leaders. “This is it! This is the Salimbaa!” they cried. Everyone knew what it was when they saw it and heard it played.
Caleb learned the Salimbaa’s golden bowl, with strings stretching from side to side around the bowl, that the convergence in the middle is the place where the Tinananon believe the Salimbaa connects heaven and earth.
The place in the middle
“They said that, in the last time, in the last days, God is going to be coming down from heaven, and he’s going to call all the righteous people to him. When God comes down from heaven, God is going to be riding on the inside of the Salimbaa, as if the Salimbaa was an aircraft that connects heaven and earth.”
Their name for the God above all gods is Manama. “They started praying to Manama…and they dedicated this instrument back to God.”
Caleb with Chief Suhat and the Salimbaa instrument (Evergreen Missions)
As a sign of special honor, the chief placed a tribal leader’s headpiece on Caleb’s shoulder. “We now consider you a chief of the Tinananon tribe,” he said. “Whatever you believe God is calling us or leading us into, we’re going to follow you.”
Reeling from the whole experience, Caleb was humbled by the gesture. They stayed with the chief, Datu Lipatuan Suhat, for three days.
“There wasn’t a lot that manifested with him giving his life to Jesus,” Caleb told God Reports. “I did pray with him a lot and prophesied over him. But after we left, we didn’t return for a few months, but during that time, within a month or two, the chief had an encounter with Jesus, and the Lord spoke to him and he wrote everything out. That is when he gave his heart to Jesus.”
On the second visit, Caleb asked Chief Suhat how he could help the tribe.
“Well, if you can help us with one thing, I want you to help us translate the Bible into our language.”
In January 2015, Caleb arranged for Translators Association of the Philippines to meet with all 50 chiefs of the Tinananon tribe.
“Some of the chiefs didn’t want the Bible to be translated and others did,” Caleb told God Reports. “There was tension in the room. None of us as foreigners felt led to speak up. The chief came up to the front and opened up the Cebuano Bible, from Genesis.”
Caleb learned the Tinananon believe that God came down and took the soil of Mindanao and put it in his hands and blew on it and that is when the first man came alive.
“We believe God made man from his breath,” Chief Suhat said, “by taking the dust of the earth and breathing on it.”
Chief Suhat proceeded to read the biblical account of the creation of man:
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (Genesis 2:7)
Then the chief paused, set the Bible down, and said: “It’s only the first few pages, imagine what it would be to have the whole Bible translated.”
The other chiefs nodded their heads in agreement. “That’s true,” they said, and all 50 agreed to let the translators begin their project.
Chief Suhat passed away in 2015, shortly after the translation process began.
Since then, there have been four churches planted among the Tinananon. “It’s just amazing, the open doors that the chiefs have given us for this tribe,” Caleb says.
Manigos (left) with Caleb and another Tinananon pastor
“It was mostly through Manigos,” he adds. “He could speak the language and knew the culture. He has such a heart for his people. He has a God-given call to his people.
First church built by Manigos among the Tinananon
“Last year (2019) we went and visited the tribe and he had taken this small group of people on fire for the Lord and it’s grown to hundreds of believers there now.”
The first believers among the Tinananon (Evergreen Missions)
Could God connect an instrument maker living in Moravian Falls, North Carolina with an unreached tribe in the Philippines through a dream?
In 1727 the Moravian Church established a continuous prayer movement that ran uninterrupted, 24 hours a day, for 100 years. Moravian missionaries were part of launching the first large-scale Protestant missionary movement, beginning in 1732.
Did God touch Caleb and Manigos in response to the Moravians’ prayers?
“I felt like the Lord had arranged everything,” Caleb says, “in such a perfect way of organizing everything, just perfect timing. It was such an amazing series of events that took place that I couldn’t take any kind of claim for it.
“The best way I could explain is I was right there in the middle of the journey with God. I felt like He was there in the moment. I was like, yeah, this is Him. This is Him, this is what He did.
Caleb and Gladys Byerly are the founders of Evergreen Missions. Their focus is to partner with God in bringing His kingdom to the Earth. Caleb and Gladys focus mostly on mentoring and discipling indigenous leaders, who will go to their own people and bring them life from Christ Jesus. To learn more, go here
Adam Fish and his wife Brooke started The Unseen Story, which features firsthand accounts that reveal the reality of God’s love. Their interview/podcast with Caleb Byerly, along with many other great stories may be found here
Lee sat quietly for a while, thinking about John 3:16, and then he asked, “Could God ‘dvu’ people?”
There was complete silence for three or four minutes; then tears started to trickle down the weathered faces of these elderly men. Finally they responded.
“Do you know what this would mean?” they asked. “This would mean that God kept loving us over and over, millennia after millennia, while all that time we rejected His great love. He is compelled to love us, even though we have sinned more than any people.”
+++
Translator Lee Bramlett was confident that God had left His mark on the Hdi culture somewhere, but though he searched, he could not find it. Where was the footprint of God in the history or daily life of these Cameroonian people? What clue had He planted to let the Hdi know who He is and how He wants to relate to them?
Then one night in a dream, God prompted Lee to look again at the Hdi word for love. Lee and his wife, Tammi, had learned that verbs in Hdi consistently end in one of three vowels. For almost every verb, they could find forms ending in i, a, and u. But when it came to the word for love, they could only find i and a. Why no u?
Lee asked the Hdi translation committee, which included the most influential leaders in the community, “Could you ‘dvi’ your wife?”
“Yes,” they said. That would mean that the wife had been loved but the love was gone.
“Could you ‘dva’ your wife?” Lee asked.
“Yes,” they said. That kind of love depended on the wife’s actions. She would be loved as long as she remained faithful and cared for her husband well.
“Could you ‘dvu’ your wife?” Lee asked. Everyone laughed.
“Of course not!” they said. “If you said that, you would have to keep loving your wife no matter what she did, even if she never got you water, never made you meals. Even if she committed adultery, you would be compelled to just keep on loving her. No, we would never say ‘dvu.’ It just doesn’t exist.”
Lee sat quietly for a while, thinking about John 3:16, and then he asked, “Could God ‘dvu’ people?”
There was complete silence for three or four minutes; then tears started to trickle down the weathered faces of these elderly men. Finally they responded.
“Do you know what this would mean?” they asked. “This would mean that God kept loving us over and over, millennia after millennia, while all that time we rejected His great love. He is compelled to love us, even though we have sinned more than any people.”
One simple vowel, and the meaning was changed from “I love you based on what you do and who you are,” to “I love you based on who I am. I love you because of Me and not because of you.”
God had encoded the story of His unconditional love right into their language. For centuries, the little word was there—unused but available, grammatically correct and quite understandable. When the word was finally spoken, it called into question their entire belief system. If God was like that, and not a mean and scary spirit, did they need the spirits of the ancestors to intercede for them? Did they need sorcery to relate to the spirits? Many decided the answer was no, and the number of Christ-followers quickly grew from a few hundred to several thousand.
The New Testament in Hdi was released last year, and twenty-nine thousand speakers are now able to feel the impact of passages like Ephesians 5:25, “Husbands, ‘dvu’ your wives, just as Christ ‘dvu’-d the church.…” Pray for them as they absorb and seek to model the amazing, unconditional love they have received.
The rise of the Internet is without doubt the most revolutionary development of the last 25 years. It has radically changed our lives and also influenced the way we think about the church.
The internet has given ordinary people (the ‘laity’) considerably more influence: everyone who wishes to do so has the opportunity online to nurture and shape their own spirituality, to become a creator or influencer, and to connect with others in communities and on platforms, completely outside the scope of their own church. To faith communities and church leaders, the internet provides an infrastructure and tools to make church fully interactive and participatory, and to extend its missionary reach far beyond the physical sphere of the church building.
This is revolutionary. For the church today, the internet can be what the printing press was for the church in the Reformation – a game changer. The internet helps us to see the church as a network, a movement and a co-creative project. It encourages us to embrace a ‘digital priesthood of all believers’.
The rise of the Internet is without doubt the most revolutionary development of the last 25 years. It has radically changed our lives. But has the internet also influenced the Church?
Recently Heidi Campbell, professor of digital religion at Texas A&M University, came up with a new book: ‘Digital Creatives and the Rethinking of Religious Authority’. It’s about how the rise of the internet is also changing the way we think about the church – the ecclesiology – and how missionary internet pioneers see and shape this.
I’ve known Heidi Campbell from the early years of the internet, so when she approached me in 2013 for an interview to give my perspective on this as a ‘religious digital creative’, it led to a contribution to the book. I’m making this available in a pdf.
The internet has given ordinary people (the ‘laity’) considerably more influence.
In other words: the internet has empowered people. It touches many areas of our lives, but I now limit myself to the impact on faith and the church:
Everyone who wishes to do so has the opportunity online to nurture and shape their own spirituality, to become a creator or influencer, and to connect with others in communities and on platforms, completely outside the scope of their own church.
To faith communities and church leaders, the internet provides an infrastructure and tools to make church fully interactive and participatory, and to extend its missionary reach far beyond the physical sphere of the church building.
This is fundamentally revolutionary. For the Church today, the Internet can be what the printing press was for the Church in the Reformation. A game-changer.
The internet encourages the church to function as a relational network. To start thinking decentrally (‘bottom-up’) about the church instead of centrally (‘top-down’), as polyculture instead of monoculture.
The internet helps us to see the church as a network, a decentralized movement and a co-creative project.
I have expressed this idea in my seminars on missionary innovation as follows:
“Tim Berners Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, has done more for the mission of the Church than the entire Church growth movement put together. Because we are now rediscovering the power of decentralized movements”.
The simple church movement, which states that you can be the Body of Christ in all sorts of places, in all kinds of forms, in the middle of everyday life, and that these groups best develop ‘organically’, is an example of this.
At a time when I blogged a lot about ’emerging church’ (2002-2007) there was another digital pioneer, Tim Bednar, who published a paper with the somewhat provocative title ‘We Know More Than Our Pastors. Why Bloggers Are the Vanguard of the Participatory Church’. Although blogging has been partly overtaken by vlogs, podcasts and social media, I consider this work to be a classic if you want to understand how the internet influences ecclesiology. You can simply extend the lines of thought.
A generation that grew up with the internet makes different demands on the church.
Bednar expresses this as follows:
“We expect a co-creative church in which we can not only participate fully, but which we can help to shape in all aspects”.
Say a digital priesthood of all believers.
There’s still a lot to be said about this, but I promised to keep my mails short and concise. To deepen your understanding, I invite you to read the two publications I have linked to.
If you want to discuss in-depth what this means for your congregation or organization, book an innovation consultation.
The Chinese Communist Party has long tried to eliminate or control the Church, but without success. Take Sister Hu’s amazing story, a mother who started a house church movement after Jesus healed her son.
When Sister Hu’s son fell seriously ill with kidney disease, she visited numerous temples to seek help from the gods, but he got worse. Then a Christian at the hospital told her that if she believed in Jesus her son could be healed. Her son fully recovered and Sister Hu committed to always serve God and share the gospel with as many people as she could.
Soon, a small group of believers emerged, and the fellowship quickly outgrew the building where it met. “Over time, the Holy Spirit revealed that we should focus on two things: evangelizing the lost and training leaders,” Sister Hu said. “We formed teams with five people in each, and we targeted 18 towns with the gospel. As we approached each town we prayed, and then we would look for the poorest household to share the good news of Jesus with.”
‘Many people believed and more churches were formed’
Each team was supported by an intercession and fasting chain, which operated around the clock, with believers rotating in two-hour shifts. “We fasted for seven days before a campaign, and to this day we still gather every morning at 4:30 a.m. for prayer, even in winter when it’s minus 30 degrees outside.”
The results were remarkable. “In the first 15 towns many people believed our message, and we formed new churches in each place. The final three towns were further away, so we had to cycle over long distances to reach them. Miraculously, in one town the officials let us use the municipal loudspeaker, to ensure that everyone could hear the message. Many people believed and more churches were formed.”
‘We have seen God perform many remarkable things’
“Our meetings were always crowded. Some people who came were demon possessed, but when we prayed they were completely delivered. Others were healed from deafness and other ailments. At first, we had many sisters but only one brother on our teams. We asked God to add 100 new brothers, and after the first evangelistic campaigns, we found that was exactly the number of men who had been converted. Later, we added mercy ministries to help the sick, elderly, and orphans.”
Over the years Sister Hu’s church has grown to 40,000 believers, and they have 1,000 evangelists and pastors. “We have seen God perform many remarkable things, which have helped spread his salvation message more widely,” she said. Some towns have been so thoroughly saturated with the gospel that now over 80 percent of the people are Christians.
“Jesus has been so good to us,” Sister Hu said. “He has been our best friend and He sticks closer than a brother. In recent years we have faced fresh challenges, as the government’s strict new religious policies have taken effect. We are under pressure to compromise, but we are determined to fully obey Jesus, regardless of the cost.”
By Michael Ashcraft —
Roe v. Wade is a must-see for Christians. It is brilliantly written and directed, though it bogs down somewhat amidst the legal wrangling. It could use a bit more of the heroic aspects in this drama, but the lack of optimism is understandable given the on-going onslaught of lies in the media and by liberal politicians perpetrating this culture of death.
#1204, March 3, 2021
