False Teachings

Our school is located in the middle of a slum..... a slum where there are many different religious beliefs: born agains, Muslims, Catholics, witchdoctors, and pastors with some pretty wild teachings.

The students at Vision of Destiny are 21% Muslims. Of the rest, I'd say about 80-90% either attend no church or one of these churches with far out teachings.

Let me tell you about one of the "churches" here where a large majority of our students and their families attend.... I won't give you the name of the church or the pastor's name, just some of the beliefs coming out of this church......
- The pastor is considered to be Jesus Christ.
- The water from the church is blessed and has special powers (it's considered to be the blood of Christ).
- Using said water will bless you and give you whatever you want.
- Using said water can heal you.
- If one of your relative dies, you should keep no photo of that person. It will harm you. You have to burn these photos in order to be safe.
- In order to be prayed for by this pastor, you must pay a fee.
- Much of this prayer involves vomiting, foaming at the mouth, and rolling around in dirt.
- Most of the branches of this church hold services only during the night (beginning around 8 p.m. and going to the early morning hours).
- The list could go on and on, but hopefully you get the picture.

This church has a huge following, mostly of very poor and illiterate peole. The pastor has created a belief in his followers that if you go to him, you will get what you want, you will be blessed, you will be healed, miracles will happen. I won't dispute that miracles do happen in this church. I've heard several testimonies, but the focus is on the pastor, not on Christ. Do you remember the story of Moses? When Moses turned the stick into a snake, other magicians did the same. So, even false prophets might have power, but is it the power of God? I would say no.

Many of our children are subjected to the teachings of this man. As I sat at school yesterday, I listened to a six year old girl pretend to be him and praying like him. Her prayer was this, "In the name of Jesus you die, you die, you die." She was praying for a fellow student.

The school has a chance to be a light shining in the darkness. Every day our students have a Bible lesson (yes, we've had to work with teachers on teaching in truth and grace and not with threats and harshness). During this Bible time, the children get to hear stories taken directly from the Bible (in a story format that a young child can understand) and get to hear the truth of Jesus.

In many ways, it has been easier for our Muslim students to grasp the truth of Christ than our "Christian" students coming from these false churches. It seems that for the Muslim students the gospel is so easy and simple to comprehend. For the students attending churches with untrue beliefs, it seems to be harder. It seems they have so much more confusion in their minds to sort through. It seems the process of knowing what it is that they believe has been harder for them.

As you know, we are seeking to put up a boarding school. This will benefit the students in so many ways. But, one that I can see that will be one of the greatest is getting to live, see, and hear truth daily. It will be less conflicting and confusing to the children to see, hear, and live out only one version of a gospel, rather than many different versions.

Pray with us:
- that during the time we have with the children before switching to a boarding school that we can be as bright of a light as we can in the few hours a day that we are with them
- that all of our staff and teachers will know and live out the true gospel before these children
- that in spite of hearing so many different things, the truth will stick in the minds and hearts of VOD's children
- that these children will grow up and become a light in their community (they already are sharing truth with others as young as they are- for example, Jackie asked a boda boda rider who is Muslim, if he knows that Jesus Christ is the Son of God!!!!!- pretty bold for a six year old!)