Author Archives: Todd

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Do you know why we pray for God’s will to be done on Earth as it is in Heaven? Because God’s will is not Earth’s normal state now that Satan has been flung here and man has corrupted creation with his own selfish will times seven billion at a time. War is proof of this. Orphaned children, hunger, injustice, and disease all point to this world’s need for God’s good and perfect will. Another proof is my recent MRI result. 

The doctor said that the cause of my seven-month shoulder pain is not simply one tear that can be easily repaired with surgery, but several low-grade tears of virtually every essential tissue in the shoulder. These injuries, apparently sustained during our recent move, have combined with the widening of my AC joint from a previous injury and a fairly severe case of arthritis to take me out of action. The bottom line is that he cannot do surgery to repair my shoulder but referred me for six weeks of physical therapy. The worse news is I am confined to this continent for the duration of that therapy. 

Please pray for my patience, so I can bear the delay in getting back to Uganda. Pray for my healing, the therapy and administering therapist, my precious bride who has to put up with me while I endure six more weeks of feeling useless, and for God’s glory to be revealed somehow through this ordeal.  

James 1 makes it clear that trials do not come from God, the Father of Lights, from Whom all good things come. He does, however, use our circumstances to refine our faith and shape us into His masterpiece (Ephesians 2:10, see the NLT for “masterpiece”). God is the healer and Satan is the thief and destroyer. Let’s keep that straight always! And let’s pray for the things in this natural world to be realigned with our Heavenly Father’s will for our abundant life. 

“When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;” James 1:13 NIV

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” James 1:17 NIV

“Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:4 NIV

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10 NIV

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10 NIV

"We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus,so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you." 2 Corinthians 4:8-12 NIV

Bible Gateway references

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You folks probably know how much I like writing about what God is doing, but I have recently committed to publishing an official newsletter, and Volume 2 is ready for your viewing. You can always navigate to the Newsletters page but I like making it easy so here it is:

March 2022 Newsletter

As the late Robert A. Cook used to say: "Walk with the King today and be a blessing!"

Oh! While you're at our website, will you please fill out the Getting to Know You form to help us keep our records up to date? We would love to hear from you anyway.

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It is hard to keep things positive when so much darkness is at work in the world. We would hardly be responsible missionary correspondents without including the gory parts of the testimony. One such story began with a girl whose countenance was desperate as Cindy and I tried to console her. Names have been changed to protect those involved. A young lady, we will call Tanya, told us this story:

One of her classmates, we will call Gail, was talking to her grandmother In their home village over the Christmas break. Gail told her grandmother, a voodoo witch doctor, that she felt stupid in class and wished she was smarter.

“Who is the smartest girl in your class?” the grandmother inquired. 

“Tanya,” Gail replied.

“Bring me something personal of hers along with one of her textbooks, and place this charm somewhere near her sleeping place, and all her mental energy will be transferred to you. You will know what she studies, and her mind will be yours.”

Gail, allegedly a Christian, and an orphan in a well-known Christian child rescue, followed the instructions of the voodoo witch and pronounced the curse over Tanya, her victim. 

Tanya came to Cindy and me, crying, and complaining that the spell has made her befuddled and desperate. She can find no reason to continue studying since her memory is gone and her mind is going to thieves anyway. “What is the point of trying anymore if my mind is not my own? I would be better off dying!”

Saint Michael expelling Lucifer and the Rebel Angels by Peter Paul Rubens

Cindy and I reminded Tanya to whom she belongs, the incredible price that was paid for her redemption -- not just at the Judgment -- but now, and what victory in Jesus means. We were careful to acknowledge her fears about the dark forces of evil, which are well known in Africa, but tried to rejoice with her for being on the winning team that has defeated all such darkness. We prayed over her, breaking the curse in Jesus’ name. We prayed for her to walk in that victory as to have her faith strengthened. We prayed for God to dispatch His heavenly host to protect her and keep her from harm. We prayed for the restoration of her mind, and the courage to continue her studies. We prayed for the restoration of her emotions, that faith in her Lord Jesus Christ would overcome the fear of the black magic that had been set against her.

We continue to pray for her and encourage her as we get the opportunity. We would ask that you also pray for this young girl whose real name God knows full well. 

Since we left, Tanya’s body was attacked with malaria, and her local clinic was out of the medications she needed for three days before her treatment finally began. Tanya has been attacked socially, and several girls, including Gail, have made it impossible for her to receive any comfortable fellowship from the girls she normally calls her friends. The devourer loves to find his prey isolated, and I am praying that Tanya finds fellowship somewhere, someplace where she can openly pour out her emotions, cares, and prayers. She has a prayer warrior in her home village but does not have open contact with this woman regularly. 

According to the prayer warrior at home, the entire family has been attacked by the spells of this witch. Tanya’s cousin was cursed and suddenly was hospitalized after a roadway traffic accident crushed his left arm, hip, and leg. One of the witch’s messengers sent word that blood from this family would soon be collected in the form of death. The intended target family came together in Christian prayer to break the curse and bless the broken boy, who remains on bed rest in the hospital. The prayer warrior recommended that Tanya begin to pray for her persecutor, like Jesus said (Matthew 5:43), and be good to her in hopes that she escapes the trap of the Devil who has taken her captive to do his will (2 Timothy 2:25-26). 

Clearly, this lady has sharpened her Sword of the Spirit more than once. We would do well to re-read Jesus' Sermon on the Mount to get our own battling orders. 

For those who doubt the power of black magic, let me just ask, what victory does a Christian celebrate who does not believe in the powers of darkness? Ephesians 6:12 makes it clear that the heavenly realms are where our real battles are being fought:

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." (NIV)