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HIDDEN CULTURE COMES TO LIGHT

Jeremiah Markley taking notes

March 14, 2006

by David Bell

As they move full speed ahead in culture and language study, missionaries Jeremiah and April Markley have been allowed many new insights into the mostly hidden culture of the Dinangat people.

Musave recently told the missionaries that many of his friends and family have rejected him because he has chosen to follow God. But Musave and the Markleys have different concepts of what it means to follow God.

Musave says that instead of following the rituals of his ancestors, he does his rituals in the name of God and uses water blessed by God to heal people.

He told one of the missionaries that he believes "we are all gods, and that if we knew how, we could each empower any inanimate object to do our bidding. For example," wrote Jeremiah Markley, "we could speak to a blade of grass, and that blade of grass could transform itself into a being and go work sorcery on someone who was our enemy.

"These are the things we will be dealing with once we are able to preach and teach in their own language," Jeremiah continued. "Right now we are observing, learning and filing every tidbit of knowledge we can about this new culture in which we live.

"Having this knowledge to work with will be a huge help as we, by God's grace, teach through the Word from the very beginning, understanding their frame of mind and being able to predict how they will perceive certain truths in light of what they have believed in the past.

Pray that the Markleys and their co-workers, Gary and Esther Smith and Ralf and Elisabeth Schlegel, will gain a good understanding of the Dinangat culture and language so they can present a clear Gospel message.