At The Base of Mt. Kilamanjaro

The View From the Sanctuary

I am sitting here in Pastor Dickson's home in Moshi, Tanzania on Wed. morning preparing for day 2 of our Seminar.  What a beautiful area located at the base of Mt. Kilamanjaro which is the highest mountain in Africa.  I have always wanted to see it.  Well, yesterday morning I was standing at the front of the humble sanctuary and looked directly out the back as the clouds were clearing over the top of the mountain. 
What a site and a great start to an amazing day that started at 9:30 and ended at 6PM.  (Yes, I slept very soundly last night)

We had over 100 in attendance yesterday including five "Bishops" who are area overseers in an organization of Pentecostal churches.  God was very gracious to me as he led me through a series of teachings that included an overview of the book of Acts and a lesson on how to use their new Acts Commentaries that Howard Brant wrote.  They once again took notes, soaked in everything they could, asked questions and seemed relieved that someone from outside their area could come and teach simple Biblical truths without compromise. 

The big controversy in this area is that several pastors have started selling "anointing oil" "anointed dirt" and "anointed handkerchiefs" that supposedly do all sorts of things.  These items are especially revered in this part of the world due to the emphasis in witchcraft and Voodoo.  Witchdoctors will tell people to walk around with a certain object in their pocket in order to keep the evil spirits away.  It's basically a mixing of beliefs with the all important "anointing" attached to it.  It kept coming up and by the end of the day God had definitely won these folks hearts over and they are ready to take on this type of ridiculous theology and teaching with the Word of God as their sword. People are looking for hope and grasping at anything that looks like hope but instead of hope in the Gospel, pastors, for personal gain are selling false hope in the name of themselves.  I assured the faithful to stay the course and let God handle those who are false teaching.

Another several hours of teaching today out of Nehemiah and Proverbs and then at 4PM we leave for the long drive back to Nairobi.  Your prayers for safety are especially needed as Ray will be driving at night for most of our 7 hr drive tonight.  I look forward to getting home and seeing many of you on Sunday.  I probably will have a story or two to share:).
Peace!

On Our Way to Moshi we Visited the Church on the Rock in Arusha