DMM: Tent Pegs and Shame/Honor

Shame/Honor: Getting to the Core of One's Being

DBS with Shame/Honor Themes

Hiddenness. Tent pegs. False accusations. Sibling jealousy. Spiritual cloaking. Tent pegs driven deep. Shame-laced words. Unwise alliances. Barrenness. Status and honor. Community outcast. 

These are just a few of the biblical themes discovered as we consider what it is to match a DBS series with the worldview among UPGs and elsewhere. On so many levels, until we can press into the epicenter of belief systems in opposition to the efficacy of God's Word and the supremacy of Christ in all places of life, we will not see the power of God's Word to transform those world views. In other words, we need to address the chewy center of where the ethos of a given UPG lay, to realize the transformation which the Holy Spirit promises. And where shame has been a sharp tool in the hands of the enemy of our souls, honor, as God defines, is one of His gifts for transformation.

A Landscape of Shame 

The year was 1866. Four young Dutch missionaries were sailing through the Straits of Malacca. The intended port for these glory bearers was present day Papua, Indonesia.

Enroute to Papua they met a Christian man named Moli. He appealed to the four missionaries to begin mission work in the Maluku islands. They heard a “Macedonian Call” much like the one described in Acts 16:6-12. Three of them, Hendrik van Dijken, T. F. Klaassen, and A. De Bode, answered that call, changed their plans, and began a work in this area. The work was slow and painstaking. The first baptisms took place in 1874 when they dedicated the first church.

The growth of the church came after 1900 when a perceived “new” missionary method was applied. People were baptized in groups (households). This rapid growth began in Tobelo in 1898 and developed quickly throughout the islands from 1900.

“Perintis Injil” (pioneer of the gospel) reads the inscription at the base of the present-day bronze statue that memorializes Van Djiken’s obedience to Christ. Several mango trees from that time period shade the land where Van Djiken and his colleagues planted the gospel in the Maluku area of Halmahera.

Fast Forward to Today

Only a short walk from the present day tribute to the faithfulness of these three missionaries lies a sharply contrasting memorial to a more recent story. From 1999 to 2002 one of the largest jihad efforts to eradicate the few Christians in this eastern area of Indonesia was launched.

This second and more recent memorial stands less than 100 meters from the bronzed likeness of the first bearer of the gospel; two divergent kingdoms are represented therein. The moss covered remains of a bombed out church building chronicles the stark contrast between the transformational power of the gospel and the cruelty and fallen-ness of man. A mass grave reflects a small representation of those who were killed at that time in the conflict. This mass grave tells the tale of those who were eviscerated, bludgeoned, decapitated, maimed, and hunted down by Laskar Jihad and other Muslim terrorist groups. Many of their children were stolen and shipped back to Java to be raised in Islamic boarding schools and madrasas. This has resulted in a generation of stolen children and many eradicated families who dared to say the name of Jesus. The challenge is to finish what Hendrik Van Djiken and others began by faith.

The Lk Riots of January 17, 2000, which targeted the few Christians in this area, were incited by the violence unleashed in the Ambon, Maluku, and Poso areas of Indonesia. Islamic solidarity and prowess expressed a higher stakes commitment from that day forward.

Pray for Muslim Indonesians to understand God’s perspective on these two “monuments” offering such contrasting spirituality.

As you consider the above, consider also the deep levels of suffering and trauma which have been experienced by those who live in these type regions. To match possible options in DMM implementation and resultant movements, one such attempt is the following DBS series.

DBS with Shame/Honor Themes

                1.   Naked and Unashamed          (Shame/Cover-Ups)                               Genesis 2:18-3:11    

                 2.    Joseph in Potiphar’s House    (Honor: Fear of God)                             Genesis 39:1-23

              3.    Moses/Miriam/Aaron            (Sibling Honor/Shame)                           Numbers 12:1-15

              4.    Korah's Rebellion                   (Usurping Honor)                                    Numbers 16:1-50

             5.   Deborah/Barak/Jael                (Honor for Bold Obedience)                    Judges 4:1-24

             6.   Hannah                                   (From Dishonor to Honor)                       I Samuel 1:1-28

             7.   Ahab/Jehoshaphat/Macaiah   (Dishonor: Alignments)                           2 Chronicles 18:1-34

             8.   Mary and Joseph                    (Lineage: Cultural Shame/Honor)           Matthew 1:1-25

             9.   Jesus and Fasting                   (Ceremonial Honor/Dishonor)                Matthew 6:16-24

            10.  Elisabeth and Zacharias         (From Dishonor to Honor)                       Luke 1:5-25

            11.  The Prodigal Son                    (Honor by Grace for the Dishonorable)  Luke 15:11-32

            12.  Rich Man and Lazarus           (Status and Honor)                                   Luke 16:19-31

            13.  Honor of Jesus                        (God’s Honor)                                         John 1: 1-18

            14.  Incarnation of Christ               (From Dishonor to Honor)                      Phil 2:4-11

            15.  Woman at the Well                  (Cultural Dishonor/Honor)                      John 4:4-42

            16.  Jesus Washes Disciples’ Feet  (Countercultural Honor)                          John 13:1-17

            17.  Judas                                        (Shame that Leads to Death)                  Matthew 27:1-10

            18.  Jesus on the Cross                   (Countercultural Honor)                         Matthew 27:27-54;

                                                                                                                            John 19:1-24; Mark 15:16-38

     19.  Jesus’ Resurrection                 (Dishonor/Honor)                                   Matthew 28:1-20

DBS questions, one extra question for these studies:

                  1.              What does this teach us about God?

                  2.              What does this teach us about ourselves / people? 

                                   Who is honored or put to shame in this story? Why?

                  3.              What do you need to apply / obey?  (I will…)

                  4.              Is there some way we could apply this as a group? (We will…)

                  5.              Who are you going to tell? When? (I will…)

DMM: Multiply the Super Spreaders

 

Let It Rain!

Buol People of Sulawesi (excerpt taken from GPD article written by RA)

The Buol people’s former Sultans (Islamic kings) were quite effective implementing a class system of the have’s and the have nots. Zul, a simple rice farmer, definitely saw himself as one who inherited the takdir (fate given by Allah) of the have not’s. 

Zul’s neighbors, Burhan and his wife, had recently begun to talk with him about the prophet Isa (Jesus). They invited Zul and his family to a discussion of the prophets as studied from the books of Moses, Psalms, and the gospels. These simple discussions, using 8 easy to understand discovery questions, had caused Zul and his family to be a bit bothered, yet intrigued, all at once. Something felt so different than what they had known of Allah's heart. They could not argue that their neighbors, Burhan and family were behaving in a different way than what they had experienced of Burhan's family for many years prior. Burhan and his family seemed to demonstrate love, care, and forgiveness in ways so strange to Zul and his family. 

Could this be connected to the discovery of Allah's heart and applying these stories which has brought a change?, Zul wondered.

During his last crop failure, Zul had observed Burhan and his wife standing in the middle of their rice field as they cried out to Allah in the name of Isa Al Masih (Jesus the Messiah). They asked Allah to bring rain for the parched land so that Allah would be glorified. A beautiful rain did descend at that moment! Mysteriously though, rain fell only upon Burhan and his family’s farm. 

That prayer and apparent intimacy with Allah had mystified Zul. Why did Allah answer Burhan’s prayer in the name of Isa Al Masih and not his?

• Pray for the Holy Spirit to draw the Buol people to Jesus. 
• Pray for the Holy Spirit to thrust out a local team that will implement a church planting movement approach among this unreached people group for God’s glory.

96,000 Muslims, five believers

Status: Needs committed DMM catalyst team of local laborers for engagement

Location: Northern Sulawesi

 

Daniel 4:32 

You will eat grass like cattle…until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone He wishes. 

Daniel’s fourth chapter is a kind of celebrity tract in which the most powerful king of his day tells how God broke his pride and stubbornness, and how in simple childlike surrender, he came to acknowledge the most High God as his Sovereign. Nebuchadnezzar said, “I raised my eyes toward heaven, and my reason returned to me and I blessed the Most High….” 

When we are tempted to believe that any individual or any nation is beyond the saving power of God, we should be reminded that the king’s heart is in the hands of the Lord; He directs it like a watercourse wherever He pleases.

• Pray that God will give us the faith to trust Him for miracles in the hearts of men and nations.

 

DMM: The Only One Among the Pantheon of gods

 

The One and Only

Cascading Kingdom Movements to Christ among the Balinese Hindus...(excerpt written by RA, taken from GPD June 2013 publication)

In 1929, a visionary missionary wrote the following after surveying the Balinese peoples, “In the name of the Lord Jesus, I deliberately set my feet on the soil of Bali and claim it for Him.” To that original faith claim, Dr. R.A. Jaffrey later added, “The light of the gospel preached by Spirit-filled missionaries will drive out the millions of demons of darkness, and these people, enchained by the devil so long, will be set free.”

Rodger and Lelia Lewis were among those early missionaries who started their work in Bali in the early 1950s—and yes, demons were driven out, and people were set free. But it was a battle, according to the book, The Battle for Bali. With Hinduism intricately woven into the fabric of both family and culture, to choose to follow Christ often meant ostracism and economic isolation for the Balinese people.

 

Though Rodger went to be with the Lord in 1999, Lelia served among the Balinese until her passing in 2021. They have had an enduring influence on the island. 

Kingdom Movements leader, Steve Smith, in his excellent book, entitled Spirit Walk, on page 13 writes the following...

“A great and godly missionary leader has noticed a change in missionaries over the last fifty years…’when I was a young missionary, fifty years ago, I met many spiritual giants. But when it came to kingdom movements we were methodological pygmies. But after fifty years of change, he made this observation: Today I meet a lot of young missionaries who are methodological giants, yet they are spiritual pygmies.”

In humility of Christ, evaluate which one you have leaned toward:

qSpiritual giants, methodological pygmies

qSpiritual pygmies, methodological giants

 

A church planting movement is now in the early stages among the Balinese. 

Pray for healthy house fellowships led by Balinese lay believers to reproduce. Pray for national and foreign laborers to walk in humility and spiritual freedom, and to appropriate the weapons of the spiritual warfare which rages before them.

3,280,000 Hindus, 5,000 believers

Status: Engaged in a church planting movement (CPM) effort

Location: Bali Island, just to the east of Java Island

 

Daniel 10:13

But the Prince of the Persian Kingdom resisted me 21 days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia.

This comment made by the angel of the Lord to Daniel gives us some insight into what happens when we pray. We know from this passage that the Lord responds to our prayers. In this case he sent His angel to Daniel. But notice that the answer to this prayer was delayed because of the work of the enemy, the Prince of Persia. It may take much regular prayer before the Lord breaks through the spiritual darkness. Will you be one who prays for the unreached nations until the Lord is victorious?

• Pray for laborers among the Balinese Hindus to walk in Holy Spirit balanced ways to be healthy disciple makers for the launch of Kingdom Movements.

 

 

DMM: A Lizard in a King's Palace

A Lizard in a King's Palace

How did I get here except by the hand of Jesus the Savior?
Mutmainah mused. A daughter of vagrant farmers, she now stood before the wife of a powerful regent of the Geser-Gorom people. 

Mutmainah had begun to teach women in her village area how to read. She simply did this because she felt that God asked her to teach them. All she knew of her newfound faith in Jesus was to obey what He told her. Her entire household had come to faith in Jesus through a series of Discovery Bible Studies, which focused on the thread of the redemptive blood needed to forgive sins--from Old Testament stories to the life of Jesus. The regent’s wife heard news of the learning to read program, and now Mutmainah was summoned to meet with this woman of influence. 

After Mutmainah and her family began to study the stories of the Bible, her life was ruined, that is, ruined for nothing short of God’s glory! She prayed for Jesus the Savior to place her into the lives of those who are seeking after Him. Now as she stood before these women of governmental influence, she recalled the words from the Proverbs 30:28, 

“The lizard you may grasp with the hands, yet it is in kings’ palaces.” 

Here she stood among “kingly” types as a Muslim background believer; yet she had the confidence of the hand of God.

 

Pray that God would place obedient disciples of Jesus into all levels of the Geser-Gorom society. 

Pray for a massive movement of multiplying churches among the Geser-Gorom.

32,000 Muslims, very few believers

Status: Unengaged in a church planting movement (CPM) effort

Location: Central Maluku Island

 

Daniel 3:17-18

The God we serve is able to save us from it, and He will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if He does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image….

What courage and what insight! Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego teach us at least three lessons as we confront the challenge of principalities and powers raised up against the knowledge of God. First, God is able to deliver His servants from danger, and give us great boldness and confidence. Nothing is too hard for Him! Second, He is not obligated to rescue His servants from physical harm; His power is directed by His wisdom. Third, a balanced view of God’s ability and His providence keeps us from timidity on the one hand or presumption on the other. 

Pray that our wonderful Lord will teach us to walk in truth and wisdom as we face challenges to His authority.

 

DMM: Unless a Grain

 

Missionary Biography: Anna Tan 

(Excerpt written by RA, published June 2013 for Global Prayer Digest)

“When your bucket gets kicked, what spews forth will be either bitterness or blessing. I can’t answer for others, but I know what I desire. When God takes me through suffering, I want to respond with blessing,” commented Anna Tan, Singaporean missionary to the Sasak Muslims of Lombok island, Indonesia. 

One morning in 2001, Anna was found with 80 percent of her body covered in 2^nd and 3^rd degree burns. Anna had awakened to the daily routine of making coffee in anticipation of her time with the Lord. The propane gas tank, which supplied the stovetop operation, had leaked profusely overnight. In her sealed kitchen area she unknowingly walked into a cloud of undetectable gas and lit a match.

Anna obeyed the Lord’s voice to demonstrate and proclaim the glory of Christ among the Sasak people. Her life represents just one from among the 70 missionaries who have come and gone in service among them in the past 23 years of modern mission efforts. For those of us still called to be among the Sasak, we jointly believe God to launch a rapidly multiplying movement of Sasak worshipers of Christ.

 

Anna is a reminder of the high cost and the privilege of obeying God’s voice to the least reached peoples. She spewed forth blessing as she clung to Christ’ sufficiency, even as she died.

Pray for the Holy Spirit to plant blessings in the hearts of disciples of Jesus who face suffering.

Isaiah 25: 7b-8

On this mountain He will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; He will swallow up death forever.

The end of shrouds, funerals and the stench of death; that is what Isaiah is proclaiming. And this is a promise to the faithful in all nations. How can anyone say no to such a promise? Though the majority of humanity will say no, there will be a remnant from all nations that will say yes to the Lord, and yes to life. That is why we pray for them. 

Pray that the Lord will bring unimaginable life to the nations that we intercede for this month.

DMM: Be the Faith Shoulders Worthy to Climb Upon

 

Missionary Biography, Darlene Rose Diebler (excerpts written by RA from Global Prayer Digest June 2013)

The year was 1942, and the Japanese invasion and occupation of the Dutch East Indies (present day Republic of Indonesia) was imminent. Word had spread rapidly throughout the region regarding the human atrocities experienced by captives of the Japanese aggressors. Missionaries who stayed would have to suffer alongside Indonesians.

 

Russell and Darlene Rose Diebler's mission agency had begun to implement their evacuation plans as they gathered in south Sulawesi. Their leader, Dr. R.A. Jaffrey, drew a line in the sand before the missionaries gathered that day. Those who chose to stay and suffer alongside the Indonesians were to remain standing in place, and those who were led to escape stepped over the line. The missionaries were given a time to seek the Lord before the last boat left the coast.

 

Darlene and her husband chose to remain. She lived through the next several years in a Japanese internment camp, while her husband was never to be seen again after the Japanese whisked the men away from the women. Darlene’s story of trust and obey, as relayed in her book entitled, Evidence Not Seen, in the midst of unspeakable suffering at the hands of her captors, is one of the many stories of those who gave seed to the advancement of the gospel in the eastern area of Indonesia.

Pray for today’s missionaries to have the presence of mind to hear the Lord’s voice when they encounter persecution and face death.

Pray for tenacity in every disciple in reproducing house fellowships, to hear, love and obey Jesus and His Word.

 

Daniel 6:10 

Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed…just as he had done before. 

Just like Daniel, Darlene Rose had to choose between safety and obedience. Put yourself in her place. Would you find it hard to hear the Lord tell you what to do in such a crisis? How would you go about finding His perfect will when one option means relative safety and the other means facing brutal oppressors? Though she faced years of brutality, her actions were a strong testimony to the Indonesian Muslims. She was willing to suffer and even die for the sake of taking them the gospel.

 

Pray that you will clearly hear the Lord’s voice when you face difficult choices.

 

DMM: A Tapestry-Woven and Spun for God's Glory

Missionary biography, Hendrik van Dijken 

(excerpt from published Global Prayer Digest 2013, written by RA) 

The year was 1866. Four young Dutch missionaries were sailing through the Straits of Malacca. The intended port for these glory bearers was present day Papua, Indonesia. Enroute to Papua they met a Christian man named Moli. He appealed to the four missionaries to begin mission work in the Maluku islands. They heard a “Macedonian Call” much like the one described in Acts 16:6-12. Three of them, Hendrik van Dijken, T. F. Klaassen, and A. De Bode, answered that call, changed their plans, and began a work in this area. The work was slow and painstaking. 

The first baptisms took place in 1874 when they dedicated the first church. The growth of the church came after 1900 when a perceived “new” missionary method was applied. People were baptized in groups (households). This rapid growth began in Tobelo in 1898 and developed quickly throughout the islands from 1900. “Perintis Injil” (pioneer of the gospel) reads the inscription at the base of the present-day bronze statue that memorializes Van Djiken’s obedience to Christ. 

Several mango trees from that time period shade the land where Van Djiken and his colleagues planted the gospel in the Maluku area of Halmahera. Present day traditional churches are not making disciplemakers, as Jesus commands for all disciples. 

Pray for present day remnant believers to transformed into disiciplemakers: to hear and respond to God when He calls them to re-direct their efforts. 

Pray for entire households of unreached people groups to embrace Isa Al Masih (Jesus, the Messiah). Daniel 6:28 So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian. Scholars have estimated that Daniel was about 90 years old; he was toward the end of his lifetime of civil service to a couple of regimes when he experienced God’s miraculous protection in the lion’s den. God honored Daniel’s faith and obedience and used him to bless Babylonians, Chaldeans, Medes, and Persians. 

We may confidently expect to enjoy fellowship together around the throne of God with members of each of these ancient peoples, partly because of what Daniel did. Daniel was faithful to his mission. Will Daniel be able to enjoy fellowship at that same gathering with representatives of other people groups because we too have been faithful to the task to which the Lord calls us? Pray that God will give us the perseverance to serve Him well like Daniel of old. 

Missionary Biography, Continued. 

Fast Forward to Today Only a short walk from the present day tribute to the faithfulness of these three missionaries lies a sharply contrasting memorial to a more recent story. From 1999 to 2002 one of the largest jihad efforts to eradicate the few Christians in this eastern area of Indonesia was launched. This second and more recent memorial stands less than 100 meters from the bronzed likeness of the first bearer of the gospel; two divergent kingdoms are represented therein. The moss covered remains of a bombed out church building chronicles the stark contrast between the transformational power of the gospel and the cruelty and fallen-ness of man. 

A mass grave reflects a small representation of those who were killed at that time in the conflict. This mass grave tells the tale of those who were eviscerated, bludgeoned, decapitated, maimed, and hunted down by Laskar Jihad and other Muslim terrorist groups. Many of their children were stolen and shipped back to Java to be raised in Islamic boarding schools and madrasas. This has resulted in a generation of stolen children and many eradicated families who dared to say the name of Jesus. 

The challenge is to finish what Hendrik Van Djiken and others began by faith. The Lombok Riots of January 17, 2000, which targeted the few Christians in this area, were incited by the violence unleashed in the Ambon, Maluku, and Poso areas of Indonesia. Islamic solidarity and prowess expressed a higher stakes commitment from that day forward. Pray for Muslim Indonesians to understand God’s perspective on these two “monuments” offering such contrasting spirituality.  

Habakkuk 1:5 Look at the nations and watch—and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. It sometimes seems today that God is silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves (1:13). But as we watch the ebb and flow of international affairs through the centuries, we can be confident that God is wisely and fairly working out His purposes until the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (2:14). Those who lost their lives to Laskar Jihad did not die in vain. God is using the blood of His martyrs in Indonesia, and all over the world. 

Pray for the nations to watch and understand what God is doing in Indonesia, even when it involves tragedy.