Ukawong “Committee” with Malachi
We knew that it was coming, but that didn’t make it any easier. On Saturday morning August 18th, Ukawong passed away. His death hit closest to home for us for a couple of reasons. First, he was considered my father and the “grandpa” for my children. Malachi would run exclusively to him when we were in the village, and throw his arms around him and give him big hugs every time we saw him. He was the one there when we moved into the tribe in 2002, he went on almost every overnight hike with me, and we spent lots of hours together. But his death also hit too close to home because he was an unbeliever. He was there almost every day during the teaching last year. And although we taught the truth of life through belief in Jesus only, and he heard it clearly; he was deluded by the cargo cult and he rejected what he heard from the Bible and remained obstinate in his old beliefs. He has been sick for over a month now, and I have gone numerous times to see him and to tell him again of the one road to heaven, but he kept saying to me, “When I get better, then I will come to see you and we will talk of these things again.” His son, too, is a believer. His name is Welsen (Megelin Mama), and we wrote about him in some past updates. He was constantly witnessing to him as well, to no avail.
You see, about a week ago, Ukawong was actually getting better and up and around. But what was the first thing that he did after gaining his health? He went to a cargo cult meeting with some guys. But there was a believer there this time, his name is Kips. I found out from Kips that he had sat in the middle of that meeting and “hit them hard with talk about Jesus.” He told them about how Jesus was the only road to heaven, and that Jesus did not come to give us money and cargo. But they were undaunted and he said that Ukawong just sat there with his head down as he witnessed to them. That very night, Ukawong went to his house and at 11:00 pm had what we think was a stroke and has been paralyzed on half of his body until his death yesterday. He rejected Jesus, and my heart aches. But I know that we did what we could, and the decision was up to him.
Last week, the cargo leaders had a village meeting to determine why Ukawong was sick. What poison, sin, or evil spirit caused him to get sick? Obviously he had done something wrong in order to get this sick for seemingly “no reason.” They just yelled at me when I asked how we could possibly find the cause and cure for this sickness... I said, “You guys heard the story from the Bible. Who is the only one who knows all and can heal all? Why do we not fear him? Don’t you remember what we said about Jesus?” They said, “You don’t know anything. We have to follow our old ways. That is the only way.” So they went and killed a pig and did what was required; but it didn’t help.
We realize that we aren’t fighting flesh and blood but against spiritual powers and every belief that exalts itself against God. But, we are confident and rest in the fact that we know who the Victor is!
We ask that you continue to pray for the spiritual warfare going on here. And we will continue to pray for you and the war that you are fighting.
His Clay Pots,
Jason, Kellie, Micah, Sophia, and Malachi
