"But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain."
                                       1 Corinthians 15:57,58

The above words, written by the apostle Paul, go a long way towards encouraging us to remain faithful to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. When we first look at these words we think of the author as a person that has every right to say, "stand firm". It was Paul that was persecuted many times over for his faith in Christ. It was Paul that was left for dead numerous times at the hand of the Jews. It was Paul that spent many a night, and years for that matter, in prisons because of his faith that was unswerving in serving Christ. It was Paul that was ship wrecked many times over and could have started to wonder if God was for him or against him by allowing him to suffer these natural calamities. But, Paul never wavered in his faith towards God. Paul always stood firm and encouraged others to do the same. Paul truly is a great example for us as Christians to follow.

Did you ever take time to think, however, how things would have been, if Paul's life unfolded in a different way. Take for instance the fact that Paul was not married. He spent a lot of time in his epistle to the Corinthians, trying to encourage them to remain single. He stated that the Corinthians would be better able to serve the Lord if they remained single.

Without the constraints of a family one would be able to devote all of their energy towards serving God. We might say that Paul was, "foot loose and fancy free". He did not have to be concerned about anyone else's thoughts or desires. He did not have to try to respect the wishes of the Lord and the wishes of his family at the same time. Because of this, Paul was able to use a lot of his time, energy and money travelling around to teach and strengthen the churches.

Stand firm? In the beginning it sounds easy. But put to the test, it is not as easy as it seems. For instance, when I was young and still living at home with my parents, it was easy to see their dedication to the Lord. It was easy to see how "church" or worship was more important that anything else. Numerous times family and friends would come to visit, many times staying in our home over the weekend. Everyone would visit and have a good time together. But when Sunday morning, Sunday evening or Wednesday evening came, Dad and mom would always say, "you are welcome to come and worship with us if you like, if not you are welcome to stay in our home until we return after worship. Many times visitors sat in our home while we went to worship! It seems like a small thing that my parents did back then. It made a lasting impression on me as to just how important worship and service to God should be in our daily lives. How many people have stayed home from worship to entertain company? How firm do we stand, when we cannot even worship the one or two hours a week that we normally worship, because someone came to visit? What kind of example are we setting for our family and other Christians in Christ’s church?

It is always easy to stand firm when the family is united, and all go to worship together. It is easy to stand firm when we are not persecuted for our faith. However, it becomes tougher to worship when one stands alone, and is often times ridiculed by family members for his or her beliefs. Stand firm? Sure, when America is considered a "Christian" nation. Yet, there are millions that do not worship at all in our so called "Christian" nation. Try standing firm among a nation of people that put their ancestors before God. Try standing firm among a nation of people that believe that if you do not worship the ancestors you will bring a curse upon the entire family. Try standing firm among a nation of people that put more priority on the "home" (tomb) of the dead than they do on the homes of the living.

These and many other problems like these, are what face the Malagasy Christians every day. In America we are an independent nation. We do not need anyone else’s help. We can do it all ourselves. It is this attitude that causes families to be dispersed across the nation and even around the world. However, in Madagascar, the Malagasy people are very dependant. One does not grow up, get married and move away. Rather one grows up, gets married and and often times winds up living with family. In Madagascar the family is all important. Try bucking the family unit and you get nowhere. Numerous times Malagasy people have come to Ankadivato, started to worship together with the congregation, put on Christ in baptism and then all of a sudden drop out of sight. Why, because the family finds out about their child’s decision to follow Christ, and then forbids them to continue to worship with the body of Christ.

The Malagasy have a saying, "Together in one house, together in one tomb". This statement puts the Malagasy way of thinking in a nut shell. The Malagasy must be united in life and death. Nothing should separate them from the physical family. That is why I am spending a lot of time teaching about the differences of the physical and the spiritual family. For the Malagasy to be dedicated to the spiritual family and not the physical family much patience and continual teaching from God’s word is needed. We are trying to instill in the Malagasy Christians that they now have a new family. The family of God, that is more important that any physical family.

Please pray along with us that the Malagasy Christians can learn to deny self and family in this life. Whenever customs and ancestral worship are involved in the lives of people, life becomes much more complicated that usual. For this reason we need to pray without ceasing, that the Malagasy Christians can "Stand Firm", and be strong against the pressures that they come up against in daily life. Please be unceasing in lifting the Malagasy people up before our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

If this is true, where is the law that is going to stop such defacing of property and looting? The army and police are all controlled by the current president. We need your prayers for Madagascar more than ever. Please pray without ceasing for this matter. 1 Thessalonians 5:17.

All of this makes me wonder just how close President Moi, in Kenya, is watching the affairs here in Madagascar. Later this year, Kenya is supposed to have another presidential election. Technically president Moi will not be allowed to run again, since he has now served two five-year terms (1992 - 2002) under the new constitution of Kenya. However, in the past president Moi fought tooth and nail to be able to stay in office, stating that he had not yet been elected under the new constitution. Will president Moi learn from president RATSIRAKA, here in Madagascar, and make life miserable for the people of Kenya by refusing to leave office at the end of this year? Just a thought that is in the back of my mind. Please be praying for Kenya also. The Kenyan churches and Christians are still in our daily thoughts and prayers.

New Years Eve at Ankadivato
For some time we were involved in planing for a New Years Eve gathering at Ankadivato. The closer the time came for the new year to be rung in, some of the Christians informed us that they were committed to family activities for the new year celebration. There were others that just would not be able to come due to the fact that public transportation closes down here in Antananarivo around 7:30 or 8:00 in the evening. We began to wonder if we were even going to be able to get ten people to come together for a while.

Then New Years Eve came and we went to the center at Ankadivato not knowing what to expect. We were pleasantly surprised to find, when all were finally gathered, there were 44 individuals in attendance. Five were Christians from Ambohijatovo, our sister congregation here in Antananarivo that we did not expect to see at all during the new year celebration. Lord willing, new commitments to serving Him are being implemented in this new year of 2002.

"Pray without ceasing" 1 Thess. 5:17

The Christmas program is now past, but the desire of both Hery and his brother Claude continues to be strong towards continuing to worship at Ankadivato with us. They say they like the Bible teaching and the services. Please pray with us as the miniature missionaries continue to influence their friends for Christ. Also, please pray that Hery and Claude’s family will allow them to continue studying and worshiping with us on a regular basis.