God Speaks from on High

From SPARK

Brief Summary

Opposition to a movie was lessened by 'a message from on high.'

Resistance to belief in Jesus Christ’s physical resurrection had a startling effect on viewers of the Jesus film in Papua New Guinea. When hecklers tried to cause disruption during the video, God intervened by causing a tree branch to fall.

Introduction

Daniel and Wei Lei Jesudason and their son, Joshua, have been working in Papua New Guinea since 1985. They started work in 1993 among the Daga people, who number about 9000 in six mountain valleys of Milne Bay Province. They were literacy consultants and later completed a re-translation of the New Testament.

What was done

The literacy materials for both adults and children were based on Genesis and The Life of Christ. To enhance interest and build understanding, they had dubbed the Genesis Creation and Adam and Eve stories and linked it into the Life of Christ. This was later recorded on DVD, which had a menu so that relevant sections could be screened according to an occasion such as Good Friday, Easter, Ascension, Christmas etc.

Daniel would hike to the valleys regularly often doing five to seven-day hikes. He would show the DVD every night at a cluster of villages where there were literacy classes functioning in the area or in areas where there were no literacy classes. Two of the six valleys have many people who follow the Baha'i faith. The Baha'i people do not believe in the physical resurrection of Jesus. They also have problems with the miracles which were shown on the DVD. Therefore the main Baha'i leaders would initiate others to heckle and disrupt the screening of the DVD, especially during those parts of the movie.

Results

In July 2004, on one of the nights during a four-day hike, while Daniel was screening the Jesus film in a resistant area of Baha’i believers, some of the Baha’i leaders ridiculed Daniel and the Jesus film. Immediately there was a loud crack above them and a tree branch fell right in their midst….they jumped up and ran…no one was hurt….only shaken…by God! Since then reports have been received that many Baha’i are wanting to believe in Christ. However their leaders forbid them to.

By Daniel Jesudason