U, Pohnpei
Sunday, September 23, 2012
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Exposing the Darkness
We’ve had an
incredible weekend of exposing the darkness here on the island of
Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia. On Friday night, Jonas
and I decided to go on a treasure hunt, asking the Lord to lead us to
His treasures that are hidden in the darkness. On Friday nights Kolonia
town is bustling with Pohnpeians gathering at sakau bars where they get
intoxicated on the mild narcotic called kava, or in the local language,
“sakau en Pohnpei.” On the surface it doesn’t seem entirely bad, but
more of a cultural practice. I’m still not certain what to think about
it as it is such an integral part of Pohnpeian culture and society.
Pohnpeians use sakau en Pohnpei at traditional feasts and gatherings, at
times offering the cups of sakau to the spirits before they drink it.
So there is a spiritual connection with sakau en Pohnpei that needs to
be carefully and delicately looked at. But the modern sakau bars seem to
be a place where Pohnpeians drink in order to escape the stresses of
life and to help them sleep well as the drug has a calming effect. We
hear Pohnpeians say that they drink it so that they can fall asleep,
which means it probably has addictive qualities, as other narcotics do.
It is also a social practice, where they hang out with old friends and
meet new friends at the sakau bars. From what we’ve heard, many
Pohnpeians will fall into adulterous relationships at these modern sakau
bars. Whatever the case, if Jesus was walking the streets of Kolonia
town in Pohnpei, He would more than likely be hanging out with the
“least of these” who self-medicate at the sakau bars. So on Friday
night, after cruising around Kolonia and praying for God to lead us to
the right people, Jonas and I felt led to hang out with some of the
youth in our neighborhood near the sakau bar close to our house. We live
in a section of Kolonia called, “Chinatown.” We want to prophetically
rename the area, “Shekinatown,” as we want to see the Shekinah glory of
God inundate this place. We went and bought some sodas at the sakau bar,
then sat with the local youth that we always see playing basketball and
hanging out every day. They kept their distance at first and didn’t
seem so welcoming of us. I think it may have been because they were all
underage and drinking alcohol from a bottle. We just sat and spoke with
them in English and Pohnpeian. Then one guy named Troy came and hung
out. He is older than the rest and is half Yapese, half American. At
first he was a bit “stand-offish” as well, but as Jonas and I just sat
and listened, he began to ask questions of us. We engaged in some really
good conversation with him and the others, didn’t once condemn them for
their drinking, but just sat there, loving on them all. They’ve invited
Jonas and I to come and hang out with them anytime. Thank you Jesus for
leading us to these treasures. It has been said, “it is better to shine
the light than to curse the darkness.”
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On Saturday
night we had our usual gathering in our apartment. We believe these
gatherings to be the beginning of the House of Prayer that we will start
here in Pohnpei. Our friends came in and we had an awesome time of
prayer and worship. I had our friends write down on a piece of paper all
of their personal prayer requests, then on the other side all of the
things they would like to see change in Pohnpei. Then as we worshiped
together, we took time to pray through all of the requests. It was an
incredible time in the presence of God. Before and after our time of
prayer and worship, we always get to have such good conversations with
our friends. The more we sit and listen to their stories, the more we
realize how dark the darkness really is here in Pohnpei. Of course from
living here before we knew about the history of Pohnpei being the center
for human sacrificing in the islands. We also had experience tremendous
opposition and outright open attacks from the enemy as we saw many
youth delivered from evil spirits and cling to Jesus. We also knew of
the black magic that is practiced here, but are coming to realize how
many Pohnpeians are involved in such practices, even though many of them
are professing Christians. This Saturday night, the daughter of one of
our friends wanted prayer. A few months ago she had accompanied her
parents to pray for a girl who was demon-possessed. Her parents were
able to cast out the evil spirits from the girl, but the daughter had an
open door in her life due to a pattern of sin, and from that time on
the demons began to torment her and her older sister. Because of the
demonic oppression, the daughter lost over 50% of her hearing and was
even vomiting metal objects that she had never swallowed. So on Saturday
night, we had her close the doors to the enemy by repenting of her sin.
Then we anointed her ears with oil and prayed for her
healing. Within moments, her hearing had been completely restored. When
the light of Christ exposes the darkness, evil must flee.
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Christian Young
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Update on the house that we prayed for...the termites were prematurely
eating the wooden posts...so we anointed every post with oil and
commanded the termites to leave in Jesus' name, breaking off all black
magic that had been placed on the house...and now two weeks later, there
are no more termites. Booyah! That's called dominion over creation!
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