I will build My church

     Some time ago we received a visit from Richard Buxton, a missionary who has spent the last five years serving God in Tanzania. He was able to share with us some of the miraculous things that God is doing in that place. We would like to share them with you.....

     The town that we lived in is renowned as a centre of witchcraft and for many who are practising the occult. It was therefore, a good place for the Church to be in.

     Ten years ago you could count the number of born again Christians on one hand, now there are hundreds, filled with the Holy spirit, preaching the Good news that Jesus is the Son of God and that He can save people from their sin.
Jesus is building His Church. ( Matthew Ch16 v18 )

     I think of one example. Hezron Shali had one ambition, to be a pilot. He put all his energies into fulfilling it and he was successful. This was his life.

     One day he was on a training mission over Lebanon. There were seventeen in the twin engined plane. As they were flying one of the engines failed, and so the pilot radioed down to Beirut airport. Because of problems there, the airport was sealed off, and they were refused emergency landing permission and had to fly to the next nearest airport in Jordon. As they flew on, the second engine failed and the plane began to plummet out of the sky.

     The instructor stood up and said "We are crashing out of the sky. In a few moments we will probably all be dead. I just want to tell you that I know Jesus as my Saviour." He began to tell people that they could be saved from their sins, and that though about to die, they could be saved eternally.

     Hezron tore off his seatbelt, got on his knees between the seats and prayed. "God, if you will save my life, I will give my life to you"
     The plane crashed into the mountain side. Most of the men, including the instructor died. Only four survived. Hezron's body was split open. Ten weeks later he woke up in hospital. They had sewn him up and he survived. God had spared his life. He remembered the promise he had made to God, went back to Tanzania and told people about Jesus. He got a few people together to form a Church and began to preach to others who also responded. He went around pioneering Churches, gave up his job as a pilot and is now the principle of the Elim Bible School in Tanzania. Hezron saw the priorities of life.

     Our life is very short. The things of life are only temporal and last only a short time. But the things of God are eternal. In this life we have only a short opportunity to deal with eternal things. Hezron is one person Jesus is using to build His Church.

     I think of another young man called Elisha. He also had chosen his career. He wanted to be a robber, a ringleader of a band! He came from one of the fiercest tribes in that area. He was only waiting to acquire one of the tools of his trade, a gun, and would embark on his chosen career. Fortunately before he got his gun he got the Gospel and instead, gave his life to Jesus! God was able to channel that zeal for wrong doing into a zeal to tell others of Christ. In fact Elisha is now a fearless evangelist.

     Tanga is the centre of occult. One of the greatest problems people have relate to occult practices and demon possession.

     Ernest Meanour, for twenty years was a witch doctor. He would tell me of his experiences with the occult. We were having a crusade outside the school. He came along, heard the words of the preacher, and there and then he was convicted of his sin and knew that what he was doing was wrong. So he gave his life to Jesus. That evening he brought along to Church his occult books, charms and implements that he had used and had a great bonfire as he publicly turned his back on that way of life. He had a great desire to go and tell others about Jesus.

     We had a lady who worked for us who was married to a muslim. One day she heard the Gospel and gave her life to Christ. She told her husband "I'm a Christian, I'm following Jesus!" He said "Very well, if you want to follow Jesus let Jesus look after you!" and he left her with six children, and went off and married somebody else.

     It would be difficult for a single woman with six children over here, even with the state to help us. But in Tanzania there is no help. She had six mouths to feed as well as her own and no help whatsoever, so she cried out to God. She had two choices, either she went back to her husband and her old way of life or she would put her trust in Jesus to meet her needs. She decided to trust Jesus. He didn't let her down. She and her children were looked after. She came eventually to work with us for five years.

     Her husband noticed that she had been looked after. He said "I've heard that the missionary and his family are leaving. When they leave I am going to take away the field that you grow your food in, so you won't have a job and you won't have a field! We will see how your Christ looks after you then!"

     He was going to take away every means for her to support herself and the children. All she could do was to turn to God, and say 'Lord, help me!'

     It is very difficult to get a job and a field, but just before we left, one of the neighbours came up to her and said "I am moving out of the district. I have a big field next to yours, will you buy it?" He sold the two or three acre field to her for about the equivalent of five pounds!

     Somebody else who heard we were leaving came up to us and said they needed someone to work in their home and could we recommend the woman who was working for us? So she also got a job! Her husband who had done his utmost to bring her to starvation point in order to get her to renounce Christ couldn't deny that Christ was more than looking after her and meeting her every need!

     The same lady came in to work late one morning looking very tired. When questioned she replied "We were praying for our neighbours' sick child who was getting weaker and weaker. We knew she was going to die." They had not taken her to a doctor because the corruption which is rife in the hospitals would have meant having to pay for drugs that ought to have been free, and they simply didn't have the money. So they just had to cry out to God. "We prayed all night that God would heal her. In the morning the child was violently sick and we knew from that moment the problem had gone and the child got up and quickly started running around"

     We had a field where we grew maize, the main food there. One particular year a plague of rats moved in and ate up everybodys maize. One field next to ours, the man planted his crops three times, and each time the rats ate up the maize. All of his crops were eaten but our field was left completely untouched. The students at the Bible college were praying that God would look after the maize. The rats went all the way around eating up everything else, leaving ours, which we were able to harvest in order to feed the students.

     We also had a chicken project. We were raising chickens to lay eggs needed to subsidize students income. We managed to get hold of about three hundred chickens after months of struggling against bureaucracy. They started off growing up nicely when a virus infected them and they dropped dead one after another. When we contacted the vet his advice was to slaughter them and cut our losses by getting as much as possible for the carcasses.

     One student decided that we were going to pray about these chickens. The students got together and said 'Lord, look after these chickens' To us it might be very simple but it meant so much to these students. The vet told us the virus would wipe the lot out and there was no way to save them. But the next day the virus stopped and they stopped dying and apart from losing the first few, the rest were saved.

     These are ordinary people who have trusted Christ as saviour and believe God's word and were simply acting upon it! That's all that God expects of us, simple faith. We all too often become complicated but God works through us when we simply believe and trust by faith.

     The people of Tanzania have many problems. Those who have put their trust in Christ have learned that there is someone who is concerned for their welfare, and having trusted Him to meet their needs they have found that He never fails them and is more than able to satisfy there every need!

     And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.
John Ch21 v25.