Earnestly Contend for the Faith

On Wednesday evenings, I am preaching through the book of Jude. The primary theme of the book is found in verse 3:

“Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”

Earnestly contending for the faith is the theme of the book. Why do we need to do so? Because of what we see happening in verse 4.
(Jud 1:4) “For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.”

There is a very real danger to churches today. Sometimes I think we are like Jonah; asleep in the bottom of the boat while the storm is raging all around us. Many of us need to “awake out of sleep” as the Bible directs us. This past weekend, I noticed on the internet The Davinci (sp) Code opened up in the movies. One article said it was the third best opening for a movie, in movie history. A movie which attacks our Lord Jesus Christ. People want the Bible to be discredited. People do not want to have to face a holy God in judgment one day. They want to live their life as they see fit. Although this movie does attack our Lord, I believe there is even a greater danger than this.

In verse 4 the Bible says, “Certain men crept in unawares…” These are people who become members of our churches. These are people we fellowship with on a daily basis. These are the people who work to destroy the church from the inside. The greater of the two threats, (Davinci Code/men who crept in unawares) is by far the men who crept in unawares. These men are marked by ungodliness, lasciviousness, and denying our Lord God. As we read down through the chapter, there are many more characteristics and comparisons made about these men.

How in the world do people like this manage to get inside our churches? What do we do to protect our churches? We earnestly contend for the faith!!! People in our churches need to know why they believe what they believe! They need to be willing and able to contend for the faith. Today, though, many churches have become social clubs. For many churches, it is not about contending for the faith. It is about being entertained. It is about hearing a nice religious teaching. Christians need to know they are in a battle. They are to “endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”

Unless we contend for the faith, we will lose the next generation. The church is the pillar and ground for the truth. The church, of course, is not the building, but the people. Based on that, how are the pillars in our churches today? Are they willing and able to contend for the faith, or are they so filled with the world, they could not even contend for faith with a Jehovah Witness? Are they actual even shaken by a movie like The Davinci Code? If so, woe on us!

Cheese Burger Please!

Cultural differences!

(Here is just a quick funny story that happened to me two months ago.)

Every month, we travel out to get supplies as many of you already know. The majority of the time we go in my truck to Kavieng. Sometimes we will go by boat to the island of New Britain. Every time we go to Kavieng for supplies we go to a restaurant for lunch. There are two restaurants in Kavieng and both are operated by the two hotels in Kavieng.

About two months ago my family and I arrived at one of the restaurants for lunch. We were the only ones in the restaurant, as is normally the case. Each member of my family ordered for themselves in English. (These small hotels are geared for tourist.) One of my children ordered a “fish burger”, and another ordered a “steak burger”. Then I ordered a “cheese burger”, and the rest of the family ordered as well. I could not wait for my cheese burger! I was very hungry. We had left very early in the morning, and none of us had eaten yet. It was just about 1:00pm. When the food arrived, Rachel received her steak burger, Heather received her fish burger, and I received my cheese burger. As I looked at my sandwich something did not look right. I took of the top piece of bread only to find a single piece of cold cheese! That was it! Nothing else, just a single slice of cheese. I called the waitress over and told her my order was wrong. She looked at my sandwich and said, “No it isn’t.” She then looked at my daughters two sandwiches, and said you have a “cheese burger!” We then realized, based on my daughter’s use of the word burger, it confused her. After all, they ordered a fish burger and steak burger and received fish and steak sandwiches. So when she heard my order of a cheese burger, she assumed I simply wanted cheese!

I then told her I wanted mince meat (hamburger meat) with my cheese. She then said, “Oh, okay you want mince meat with your cheese burger.” I just smiled and said, “yes please.”

My family and I laughed for several minutes. It was clear we were not at a restaurant in America!

Phone is Back up!

I am back! We have had power problems, and phone troubles. Our phone is working much better now, but we still only have it for a few hours a day.

This past weekend went very well. Saturday, I headed out to the village to make visits, as I usually do. This time, I was meeting with a man named Jonah. He and his new bride have been coming to church since the beginning of the year. Right after they married, they decided to come to the Baptist church. (By the way, the weddings here are nothing like they are in the states. Some other time I will post on the wedding custom here in PNG.)

About two weeks ago, Jonah started raising his hand at the invitation time, asking prayer about his salvation. He wanted to know more. (I have found it pretty consistent here, that after four to six months of hearing the preaching, people begin to become concerned about their salvation.) When I arrived in the village, Jonah was waiting for me by the road. I picked him up and we went to the church building. I began to witness to him personally for the first time. He listened intently. As we talked about the day of judgment he would face, he realized he was on his way to hell. Then I explained exactly why Jesus came to the earth and died on the cross. I showed how Jesus defeated the wages of sin and rose again on the third day. After hearing this, Jonah repented and put his faith in Jesus Christ for salvation!

Jonah, of course, was in church on Sunday, and brought two friends with him. One had come before, but it was the first time for the other friend. His wife is currently on the other side of the island in her home village. Please pray that when she returns, she too will put her faith in Jesus Christ for salvation.

On the way back from church, I managed to loose my bumper. It fell off again and I did not realize it. However, another man found it and brought it to me today! I guess he knew right away who the bumper belonged to. Also, on the way home, I ran over a python that was just about the width of the road. I regretted not having my camera with me. As my truck was approaching the snake, I thought it was simply a large branch off a tree, or a small tree, but as I ran it over I realized it was a python.

Village Funeral

Village Funeral

(Our phone went out again, and is now back up! It is still not working properly and I am having alot of trouble connecting to the internet. There is a very good possibility it will go out again for several days. Hopefully it will improve.)









The following took place on Friday, May 7, 2006

Today, I headed out to the village of Sohun to preach a funeral. The funeral was for an elderly lady who was saved and attending the mission work in the village of Sohun. (This work was already going before I arrived. This was the group of people praying for a missionary to come before I arrived. I teach there every Sunday before heading out to the church I started in the village of Kudukudu.) The lady who died was named Mama Ruby. She died from TB.

The funerals here can be quite the experience. I arrived about 9:00am with my family. Many of the villagers were already there, but several hundred more still would be coming. I was early. As the people arrived, preparations were being made for the burial. The hole was dug, and the coffin was decorated. They make their own coffins here. Much better then the outrageous prices we pay in America. At this time, as well, the pigs were brought in. They were still alive and tied to a piece of bamboo.

The men take care of the pigs while the ladies prepared yams, rice, and taro. The entire village will be fed after the burial takes place. The men killed the pigs and then bled them. The pig then had his guts removed and was placed into a hole in the ground. Now, in the hole are rocks that have had a fire underneath them for quite some time. The rocks are VERY hot. On top of the rocks was placed banana leaves, then the pig, which was also wrapped in banana leaves, was placed on top. Then more heated rocks were put on top of the pig, and the hole was filled up. The pig’s guts were placed in this hole; they are wrapped in banana leaves as well. One to two hours later the pig was ready to eat. The ladies get sea shells and use them to scrape the yams. After the yams had been scraped they were placed on an open fire to be cooked.

While all this was going on, the dead body was in the “haus boy”. (This takes places in all the “mat mats”/funerals here.) The ladies all took their turns entering the “haus boy”. Once inside they cried/wailed for several minutes and then left. Except for these funerals the ladies are never allowed to enter the “haus boy”. It is for men only.


After all the people had arrived, it was time for the preaching. We sang a few songs and then I stood to preach. This funeral was a great opportunity. There were 300 to 500 villagers present. I preached on being “ready to die.” Most of the people seemed to listen intently. I hope and pray that the seed that was sown will bear fruit.

Right after I finished preaching the body was moved to the burial site. This was only about 20 yards away. Once the body arrived there, I spoke briefly, read some scripture at the grave side, and then the body was buried. During this time the people began wailing. The wailing continued the entire time the grave was being filled in. Nobody leaves the grave side until it was filled in and then decorated. Once that was accomplished, we returned to the spot of the preaching and the eating began. (During the graveside part, Bethany was stung by a hornet on her arm. It was the first time she had ever been stung by a bee. She handled it bravely. She simply buried her head in my chest and cried for a few minutes. Most of the people simply thought she was crying with them.)

Eating in the village is very different then what one is used to in the western world. When the eating did begin there were no plates, forks, spoons, etc… Papaya leaves were placed in front of us. This was our plate along with three to four others. Then a man placed rice on the leaves with his hands. Next, parts of the cooked pig were placed on the leaves, followed by yam or kau kau. With our hands, we began eating along with the few others around the papaya leaves. (This really saves on the amount of dishes you have to wash!) At the funeral today the pig tasted excellent, and the yam was very good too. By the time we ate it was already 1:30pm.

I hope to be able to get good video footage of their “matmat”/funeral for furlough. It is a very unique experience.

Again, I thank the Lord for the opportunity he provided today to share the gospel with several hundred people! I am also thankful that Mama Ruby is now with the Lord!

The phone is up!!!

It seems about once every six months the phones here in Namatanai go out for an extended period of time. (Anywhere from one week to six weeks.) When the phone is working properly, we usually have it for 8 hours a day on the week days, and four hours a day on the weekends. You might be thinking what if you have to call for an ambulance. No problem, since there is no ambulance to call for. For that matter there is no doctor to call for either. Well, what if I want to order pizza from Pizza Hut? No problem there either, no Pizza Hut. (No pizza place at all.) I wonder if we get a doctor here, if a Pizza Hut would follow? Wow, I am really suffering for my faith. :)

Now, there are advantages to our phone situation: I have never received one phone call from one telemarketer asking me to switch my long distance service or accept their credit card! I have never been woken up in the middle of the night by a wrong number. (Come to think about it, I don’t have to ever worry about being woken up in the middle of the night by the phone, wrong number or not.) Nor do I have to worry about annoying phone calls from people I do not even like. So as you can see, perhaps I am the one with the advantage.


I arrived back from Kavieng this afternoon. If you remember last month, on the trip back from Kavieng, the top spring of the back springs snapped. I also lost a signal light on that trip. It fell out due to the poor road conditions. This time I only lost one item off of my truck. The right half of my rear bumper fell off. After it fell off, I just removed the wire that was holding my passenger side mirror in place, and switched it to hold the bumper. The quick fix worked and I made it back with the bumper! Oh, how America is wasting money by paving roads. Just cut the trees down and call it a road!

Phone out!

Phone Lines Are Out!

Sorry I have not been posting on here the last week.

If you remember a few post ago, I said how it is now uncommon for the all the phone lines to go out where I live. Well, that has happened again. The phone has been out for eight days now.

I have no idea when they will be back up. It could be a few more days, or several weeks. Pray the lines will be restored quickly. When we are without phone lines, we do not have a clue as to what is going on in the rest of the world. You can get island fever pretty quick. It removes our source of news, and email capability, which we use on a daily basis.


If you are wondering how I am able to post this, I have traveled to Kavieng for supplies. I will be here for one more day.

As soon as my phone line is restored, I will begin posting!

Where do you go Shopping?

Where Do You Go Shopping?

Due to our location, getting supplies is no easy task. Usually I travel five fours by truck to a town called Kavieng once a month. It is the only true town on the island. This place is very small and supplies are limited, but for the most part we can get essentials. There are times when I travel by boat to the town of Kokopo, on the island of New Britain for supplies. The boat ride, at times, can be quite the adventure.

To make the trip to Kokopo, my day starts between 4:00am and 5:00am. I first drive to the west coast of the island, which takes one hour. The drive is less than 15 miles, but the road is horrible. I then have the task of finding a good boat heading to Kokopo that day.

The boats that make the trip to the other island are little dinghy boats with a 40 horse engine. I have learned over the last two and half years, which boat operators know what they are doing, and which ones do not. Every year, scores of people die taking these boats from our island to Kokopo or Lihir. Many times these deaths are the result of poor judgment by the boat operator.

When deciding on which boat to take, I also take into consideration how many people are in the boat. On one particular trip to Kokopo, I hired a boat operator named Herman, and his boat. He only had two or three other people going, so this was ideal. As we left, we were about 5 minutes down the coast when a truck from the shore started beeping at us. There were people who wanted to get on our boat. Herman turned the boat and went to pick them up. Before I knew it, the boat was packed. I mean PACKED.

There are no seats on these little dinghies. One simply sits on the floor of the boat. I had no cushion or pillow with me either. When all the people packed into the boat I was forced to the front of the boat sitting Indian style unable to move, because of all the people! So here I was sitting in a cramped position without any ability to change the way I am sitting. As we begin to head out to sea, the front of the boat is slamming every few seconds on the ocean. I am literal bouncing on my back side over and over. This continued for the duration of the boat ride, which was three hours! Remember now, I have no pillow or cushion with me. With all the people on board, I felt like I was a refugee leaving Cuba for Florida!

Half way through the trip, I thought it would b easier just to swim to the other island. I was trying everything I knew to avoid thinking about the pain I was in. I can not tell you how happy I was when we made to the other island. The first thing I bought when we arrived was a PILLOW for the trip back. My backside was sore for over a week. I could hardly sit down any where. Oh, and yes that was the last time I ever traveled on the boat with out a pillow or cushion.

On this day, the trip back would prove to contain one of the most frightening yet funny experiences I have ever had on one of these boat rides. When I make the return trip back to New Ireland I always hire the entire boat. This way I have enough room for my supplies, and I can leave when I want to leave. I had finished all my shopping in Kokopo and I was ready to go back with my pillow ready to go. Herman took off from shore and everything seemed to be going great. The ocean was much calmer then the morning run, but I was still very sore. An hour or so into the trip, Herman turns off the boat. I did not like that. I always imagine the operator unable to start it back up, and thus floating in the ocean while being cooked by the sun. If something like that happens there are no radios on these boats to call for help. There would be no help coming for days. Herman had turned off the boat so he could get some buai to chew. Buai is a nasty habit here in PNG. Buai has a small drug affect and it is very harmful to the body. Well, Herman got his buai and was ready to go now.

As he went to pull start the motor, his arm accidentally hit the key to the engine. The key went flying into the air and went right into the ocean. NO FLOATING device was on the key! I could not believe what I just witnessed. Right behind the key though, Herman went flying into the air diving after the key! This all happened in a matter of seconds. Now, here I am sitting in this boat, with the key and the operator under the water. Well, if you ever need a jump start to your prayer life, this is it!

I guess around 20 to 30 seconds went by and up pops Herman. He then lifts his hand to show me, he retrieved the key! I was thrilled, thankful, overjoyed, happy to see Herman, and ready to kill him at the same time. We made it back to New Ireland without further incident. I arrived home about 7:00pm. Again, just another day in Papua New Guinea!