From darkness to light, the Lord is still claiming clusters of people in Africa. The lesson for the rest of us is that the forces of evil can never prevail against the powerful light of Christ.
July 11, 2008
Message from Malawi: Jesus Conquers a Village
It was like the high pitched drill of a dentist only it lasted all night. Centimeters from my face I kept hearing that high pitched hum, hovering, knowing I’m there. All that was protecting me from a bite that might bring malaria was very thin netting over my bed. All night long I couldn’t help but think of that mosquito. I never saw him but I could hear him. I knew he was there. He knew I was there. During this sleepless night how could I not think of spiritual darkness, not just in Africa but back in a more subtle Southern California? In Malawi the darkness is still more in the open but the light of Christ overcomes darkness every time, every place. The buzz saw noise swirling over my head is a good reminder of our only hope: the love and protection of Jesus Christ, our Lord. I’m Charles Morris in Africa and welcome to Haven Today, telling the great story that’s all about Jesus. We have a picture of a witchdoctor’s hut and we’ve posted it on our homepage at haventoday.org. You might want to take a look. The story we’ll get to hear in the next few minutes is the story of how a town was caught in darkness but has now seen a great light. How could I not think, listening to the hum of a mosquito about darkness but then about the protection I have in Jesus Christ? Because my faith is built on him and his righteousness alone. Get ready to hear what Jesus did to conquer the village of Zua.
Song: Yesu, Azali Awa
Performed by: Selah
The musical group is Selah with a Congolese hymn called “Yesu, Azali Awa” “Jesus is Here with Us” on a Haven Today called “Message from Malawi: Jesus Conquers a Village”. I want to take you with me here to Central Africa to the nation of Malawi whose name means “flames of fire”. Like many African nations Malawi is struggling with poverty, hunger, AIDS, spiritual oppression, the native religion keeps many in the grip of fear, especially those who live out in the villages which is 80% of the population. Even before the Gospel arrived, Malawians traditionally believed in one god who made the heavens and the earth but they believe this god has turned his world over to spirits who control what happens to them, both the good and the bad spirits. They spend their lives trying to keep the good spirits on their side and trying to keep bad spirits from becoming hostile. That means their lives are dominated by all kinds of superstitious practices. They believe the local witch doctor has power in these matters so he is who they go to when things go wrong or when they want things to go right. The witch doctor can tell you who’s put a curse on you or he can give you secret charms to make your husband love you. He can prescribe sacrifice to bring the rain. He has great power. 80% of Malawians live in villages where these beliefs are still very strong, fear of evil spirits and of witches – mafiti they’re called – and their evil spells keep the villagers in bondage to fear, even many who call themselves Christian. Sudden deaths are always blamed on an evil spirit by a mafiti. If a woman is dragged under and drowned by a crocodile it’s because of an evil spirit. If a child becomes ill or the crops fail, it’s an evil spirit. We who’ve grown up in the West have a hard time understanding what it means to live with the terror of evil spirit, occult forces and the power of mafiti spells. But stop. I want to take you to a village in Malawi, the village of Zua. Zua was once known as a very dark place. Two teachers taught in the elementary school, both of them mysteriously died suddenly and the villagers assumed witches had put a curse on them. Dread settled down on the village. Everyone was full of fear. It became so widely believed that the district couldn’t find replacement teachers. No one was willing to come to a place that was under such oppression. When a person from Zua travelled outside their region they were ashamed to admit where they came from. It had such a bad reputation for being dominated by the powers of darkness but that was before a friend of mine, Fletcher Matendika came passing through looking for where God wanted him to start a new work through his Joy to the World Ministry.
I want to know about this village that was your first project. It’s name is Zua and I hope I’m pronouncing it correctly. Tell us, what was it like before you first went in there and more importantly, before the Lord started doing some work there. But we’re only talking about 2 years ago now. What had happened to Zua?
FM: Hey Charles, thank you for having me again on this program. I’m very excited to share what God has done in Zua village but I just want also to share what Zua was like, Zua village, before the Lord called Joy to the World Ministries to go in and start a mighty work, working alongside the church to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the people in Zua and from Zua to other parts of this country and we hope, eventually to other parts of the world. Zua was very dark village spiritually. There was a lot of spiritual darkness there. Witchcraft was very rampant. In fact, over the last 2 years before I went there, 2 teachers had died very mysteriously as a result of witchcraft it is believed. And that really scared everyone, particularly some of the teachers that were remaining at the school and so the few teachers that were still there left. Only 2 remained and you can imagine a whole primary school, elementary school as you call it in the states, with over 540 students but only 2 teachers teaching 1st through 8th grade. And so this was the situation and because of this Zua was an ostracized village. Nobody really thought much about Zua in fact it was almost like a curse being a native of Zua village. Nobody was proud being called a native of Zua village because of this bad history. Everybody looked down on these people. And so in 2006 I happened to be in Zua village because my father who is a pastor in that area had assigned me to go and help with the preaching ministry in that village. And I remember the first Sunday when I walked into that village I mean I was just overcome with a great sense of God. I realized now that God was going to move and was communicating something to me but I didn’t really get it, but there was a sense of peace in my heart and there was excitement, compassion and enthusiasm to really do something for the Lord in this village. And as I began to talk to the elders in the church community and interact with a lot of people I finally understood what the need was. In this village they needed to see the light of Christ, that there were so many people in this village who hadn’t heard the Gospel. And so I was preaching in this village and I just felt the Lord saying, “As the Father has sent me so I am sending you to this village.” And I remember that evening going back to my family and sharing with them what the Lord had communicated to my heart as a result of my one day experience in this village. And I remember saying, “I want to go back and just spend a week in this village so I can just minister to the people.” But of course, knowing the history of Zua I knew that was a big risk, literally. It meant that I could not come back home alive if the work of the devil prevailed over me and they could take my life. But as I shared with my family my mom spoke to me and said, “Fletcher, if it is for the Lord it is worth it.” And so we prayed together and we continued praying and arrangements were made that led me to go to Zua and spend one week in the village. Every day I was preaching the Gospel and visiting people in their homes and the Lord confirmed it in my heart that he wanted to establish a missionary training ground in Zua village, not only to transform Zua but to use Zua as an agent for spreading the Gospel to the world. And God has done amazing things. I shared the vision with the people in Zua but you’ve got the chiefs and their response to me was so astounding. I never expected such a kind of response. I was talking to them about the vision that God had given me to establish a ministry to train Christians to share the Gospel. We also wanted to work with the school to develop education. We wanted to do farming programs and so many other programs, doing microfinance, helping women to establish their own businesses, agriculture training, etc. We wanted to build a secondary school. We’re now in the process of building a medical clinic and I said to them, “In order for us to do these things we need to have land, because we don’t have land. I’m not from this village. I don’t own any property here but you own all the property so if you feel like this is something you would like to be a part of let’s partner together. You give us the land and together we can build up this ministry.” And the chief looked up at me and he said, “Fletcher, God is the one that made the world. He’s the one that made me. If he wants to do something here who am I to stop him? We’re going to find some land for you.” The next day after they had done their meeting the chief came to me and they said, “Let’s go. I want to show you the land we decided to donate to the ministry.” We walked around the perimeter of this property for 2 hours and I called a friend who works for the ministry of lands to come and survey the property and after he did that he told me that the size of this property was 171 acres. I had only asked for 50 acres. And I said, “Wow! What am I going to do with 171 acres?” But to me that was also a confirmation from the Lord and a testimony that our God is able to do far more than we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us. So we started praying that the Lord would give us the resources – we didn’t have anything – that he would give us the people to come and really set up this ministry for the sake of sharing the light of Christ. One of the verses that gave me the confidence was Isaiah 9 verse 2 I believe, “The people who walked in darkness will see a great light.” I can tell you that right now in Zua the light of Christ is shining brightly. Zua is no longer an ostracized village. Now the people who aren’t from Zua want to be a part of Zua village because of what Christ has done in this community.
CM: Fletcher, when you first started going to this village and you first started talking to the chief, the head chief and then the other chiefs in the village you were staying there and it wasn’t exactly the most friendly place where you suggested you would stay and they allowed you to stay. Would you tell us that story?
FM: Yeah, it was a house that had been raided by witchcraft really. I mean the person that was staying in that house just had to leave because he would see writings on the wall at night, just all kinds of weird things were happening. And I remember when I stayed there, the first morning when I woke up I was woken up at 5 because there was a knock on the door and it was the chief of the village who had come. And I thought that was odd that at 5:00 somebody would be coming just to my house, a stranger, I didn’t know them, they didn’t know me. but anyway , there were two men with me in the house they just wanted to be sure that I was safe. They didn’t want me to be alone in the house but one of them came and knocked on my door and said, “The chief wants to see you.” So I got up out of my bedroom and he was sitting on the, in the living room. There were two chairs. I sat on one chair he sat on the other. And he said, “Hello, (spoke in Chi-chewa),” which means, “How are you?” I said, “I’m fine. How are you?” And that was it, there was silence. He looked at me. I looked at him and then it was kind of, there was nothing. I didn’t know what else to say. He didn’t say anything else. So I waited a while, waited a while. Then after a few minutes he said, “Thank you, good bye.” And I thought that was really strange. I didn’t know what that meant. But the Thursday later that week when I was at his house sharing the vision God had given me in asking for this land, he finally clued me in to what was going on. And he said, “Fletcher, remember that first morning you were here? I came to your house. I didn’t sleep all that night, the night before, because I was so worried what would happen to you. And I just wanted to make sure you were alright. That’s why I came so early to see you. And that spoke to me and also, throughout that whole week nothing happened to me. I wasn’t bothered by any witchcraft powers, I didn’t see any writings on the wall and that served as a testimony about the power of God.
CM: Fletcher Matendika talking with us here on Haven Today in Malawi on how the work began in Zua, a village plagued formerly by dark oppression. If you want to see a little bit about his ministry, Joy to the World, head to the website that we have linked from haventoday.org. Two years ago Fletcher talked about his vision for Zua with two students at African Bible College. That’s where we’ve been broadcasting from. They were about to graduate, Elliot Kimbo and Ulemu Mandibu. Would they be willing to move as missionaries and teach in the school, preach Christ and help this darkened village? In Malawi it’s all about family. You get out of school and you go to work to help family. You don’t help strangers. Elliot had just spent 4 years working at menial jobs to pay his school fees. He was set to teach at a theological college. His mother and brothers and sisters were counting on his being able to contribute to their support. As he put it, “All Fletcher Matendika had to offer was a vision. There was nothing. No houses to live in, no money, no food, just vision.” Ulemu is a lovely young woman who had already been offered a lucrative new job in the national bank when she graduated. She had never lived in a rural village with dirt roads and no clean water, no electricity. Her family couldn’t believe that she would even consider it. They thought she was crazy. But the two of them went there for a week and both of them have told me that after a week they knew this was a call from the Lord. They committed to stay in Zua and love and work with the people and bring them Christ. And after they made that decision they both had a profound peace that of course came from the Lord. So, what’s happened in Zua in the 2 years since Elliot and Ulemu went there? Amazing things, they started out teaching in the schools and the villagers were so grateful they provided them a hut and brought them food and clothing. They welcomed them with love and Elliot and Ulemu loved them back. Today the school has such a good reputation that 9 teachers from the district teach there. Many students attend from outside the district because of the excellence of the teaching and out of 13 schools Zua’s teaching recently scored number 1 for academic performance. The village now has a grinding mill, compliments of Joy to the World Ministries. The women can bring their maize or corn to be processes instead of spending back breaking hours grinding it by hand. They’re free to care for their homes and children. There are 5 full time missionaries there today. Elliot’s new wife helps the women with economic development. They get small loans at very low interest and start home businesses. One woman is selling knitted products, another has opened a coffee shop, 36 businesses have started so far which means these families have extra money for the necessities of life, necessities like food and clothing and soap. Another missionary has helped the men set up an irrigation system so they can harvest 3 crops per year instead of one. It also helps so much in a year of drought. The biggest problem health-wise was dysentery due to polluted water supplies. The people were drinking out of stagnant pools alongside their livestock. Children were the most vulnerable and many of them died. Now, today, 2 years later there are 31 wells, again, compliments of a ministry in the name of Jesus Christ. The death statistics have been so reduced in the village that government officials have sent in a team to find out what’s different. Another full time missionary has just come in to work with young people. He’s started soccer teams and organized tournaments. Instead of wearing good luck charms to help them win the young men pray before games and play for the Lord. It’s not the huge improvements though in the quality of life that’s made the big difference in Zua. It’s the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is the focus of everything these missionaries do. They teach and preach Jesus in the schools as they grind the maize, as they coach the children, as they counsel the women and lead Bible studies. Everything is done with prayer. Christ is always on their lips. He’s part of every conversation and in 2 years Jesus Christ has conquered this village. You should see the faces of the people shining with joy. You should hear them testify to their friends and neighbors. The missionaries are getting more requests than they can handle, “Come help us too. Tell us about Jesus.” I asked Ulemu and Elliot about the darkness and the fear of witches that used to dominate the village. I asked if they themselves were ever afraid. Ulemu said, “No, we are fearless in Christ. Our attitude is come and let’s see who has the power.” She says, “Greater is he who is in us than he that is in the world.” Christ is taking over the village and surrounding area. There are no more witch doctors. They’ve all gone packing. People are being set free and you can feel the presence of Christ in the village. It has been transformed. That’s the story of Zua. I asked Fletcher Matendika, the founder of Joy to the World Ministries, what’s the future, what’s the vision?
FM: What I would really like to see that the light of Christ would shine brightly in Zua village but also from Zua literally to the end of the earth, and the people of the world would know that our God is a great God, he’s a big God and that he is committed to making his name great among all the nations. And I pray that the Lord will use this ministry, Joy to the World Ministries to raise up a generation of Malawian Christians who will be so passionate for the Gospel and will run with it to the ends of the earth and who will do whatever he allows us to do by his grace to equip them, to train them and to provide any kind of support that we can provide so that they will be equipped to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ from Malawi to the ends of the earth to the glory and praise of God the Father.
Song:
Performed by:
Music from African Bible College “I’m Going to Keep on Working” here in Lilongwe, Malawi on a Haven Today called “Message from Malawi: Jesus Conquers a Village”. If you want to know more about Joy to the World Ministries we’ve linked it to our website, haventoday.org. You can also listen to the program again or easily send it to a friend by going to our website and hitting the little button that says “Listen”. Earlier in the week on our weekday program we had an evangelist and the world wide director of African Enterprise Stephen Lungu. Now if you haven’t heard his story, we’ve left it up under the “Going Deeper” section at haventoday.org. Stephen was abandoned by his parents, growing up as a teenager to become the leader of the most feared Marxist gang in Zimbabwe and he grew up in the early days of Robert Mugabe coming to power. But then one night, on assignment with his gang to bomb a Gospel revival tent, where people were worshipping the Lord and people were meeting Jesus, the Lord all of a sudden took charge in a very bold way and Stephen Lungu’s life has never been the same. This is one life story you don’t want to miss and you most certainly will want to pass it on to someone you know. We also have the written autobiography of Stephen Lungu as a thank you for your gift to Haven Today. So just go to our website, h.a.v.e.n.t.o.d.a.y, haventoday.org or call us at 1-800-654-2836, that’ toll free number again in North America is 1-800-654-2836. Please tell us the station you’re listening to. We keep sharing Jesus with people around the globe thanks to the help of brothers and sisters in Christ. I hope that includes you. Could you help us through this summer? Let me give you our mailing address. It’s just another way in which you can get in touch. Write to me, Charles Morris at:
Haven Today
Box 79997
Riverside, CA 92513
That’s:
Box 79997
Riverside, CA 92513
In Canada we’re:
Haven Today
Box 6800
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That’s:
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In Africa I’m Charles Morris inviting you to come back and join me again next time as we share the great story that’s all about Jesus together here on Haven Today.
