theexpandingshrink

I am back in Paraguay, a landlocked country of 7 million, sometimes referred to as the ‘heart of America’.

If Paraguay is the heart of America, one might ask, “What is on the heart of America?”

I praise God that “missions to the nations” is on the heart of many here in Paraguay.

Photo taken on a nighttime drive in the Chaco. “ Snake on a wire…snake pretending to be a wire….snake waiting for its prey to land.”

I am in Paraguay. The land is beautiful and the people are friendly. But I am not here simply as a tourist. I am here on a divine assignment. However, sometimes the assignment becomes broader than I originally understood.

I now understand that a part of the assignment is to call your attention to an issue urgently requiring your prayers.

So here is the issue:

A friend of mine, Anton Harder, of Asuncion, Paraguay, has been a father’s voice in Paraguay. He and his wife, Lolita, lead an organization, called Decisiones, which has informed the choices of hundreds of thousands of young people in Paraguay through media, lectures and counseling. This organization is now under attack.

As I prayed and reflected on the situation, I felt God gave me the following word.
Pray that the voice of this ministry will increase in power and scope. Praise God that He knows how to care for His own.

A FATHER’S VOICE

A father’s voice was heard in the land of Paraguay. The father said, “Here are your options regarding sexual ethics and here are the potential consequences. You must make your choice.”

For 17 years the father’s voice was heard across the land of Paraguay in most of the public schools. The government of Paraguay allowed this voice because the government values informed choices. The government desires a population who live by life-giving principles and not by the impulses of the moment, without regard to the welfare of future generations.

Paraguay had a treasure of moral guidance in the sex education program offered to its young people. This treasure was of course known in Paraguay where hundreds of thousands of young people were guided in making decisions that would enhance there personal lives as well as their culture. But children growing up in other countries in the western world have impaired access to this treasure.

There is an emphasis in the world on celebrating actions which lead to death of the individual and death of the culture. For purposes of this discussion we will call that emphasis the “Spirit of Death”.

The Spirit of Death celebrates any action that an individual desires and plays down the potential consequences of those actions under the guise of freedom of choice.

The Spirit of Death hates children and plays down the consequences of one’s actions. The Spirit of Death celebrates that “all actions are created equal”. The Spirit of Death distorts the reality that some choices lead to death. The One who hates children, celebrates that any choice can lead to a bright future when in fact some choices are associated with death of children, death of a hopeful future and eventually death of a culture.

“Take away the father’s voice”, is the plan of the Spirit of Death. “Plant fear in the heart of all fathers and in all those who support fathers, should the fathers dare to raise their voices in support of life and against the deceptions of the Spirit of Death.”

This Spirit of Death has now been unleashed in Paraguay. Media attacks are now coming against the voice of the fathers in the land. The Spirit of Death takes a statement made by a father and twists it, making it appear that the father is forcing his will on the children, when in fact the father has been very careful to describe actions and consequences and to put the informed choices clearly in front of the children.

Even good men and women are now trembling in the face of the unleashed fury of the Spirit of Death. Good people are saying, “If we had only said it differently, we could have avoided this attack and we could have continued our message.”

But it is not ‘how’ you say it; it is ‘that’ you say it. The Spirit of death is determined to destroy the Father’s voice. There is no appeasing that Spirit by simply changing the wording. The Spirit of Death is determined to extinguish the voice of the Father so that actions which lead to death will be as attractive as those which lead to life. In other words, the Spirit of Death wants to redefine cultural values so that “evil is called good and good is called evil.”

So what is a father to do when attacked for acting as a loving father? What are those, who recognize the treasure they have had in the moral guidance offered to the youth of Paraguay, to do when that treasure is threatened with destruction?

How shall we respond to the Spirit of Death?

1. Do not yield to intimidation. The Spirit of Death operates through a spirit of intimidation. Those attacked can quickly give way to fear and in their fear attempt to appease the Spirit of Death. But, in fact, nothing will appease this Spirit but total destruction of all moral values.

2. Remember that perfect love casts out fear. The father is motivated by love for the children, love for the culture, love for the country and love for God. The true Father even has love for the “enemies” who come against him, knowing that they have been deceived by and motivated by the Spirit of Death. The father must stand firm in that love, knowing that love is stronger than death and that love gives him authority and courage to speak into the face of the intimidating Spirit of Death.

3. Increase the strength of the father’s voice to the culture. Do not back down; do not give in and do not go quiet. Take control of the narrative. Expand the scope of where the father’s voice is heard. Take it to the nations. The nations need to learn from the treasure that has been in Paraguay. The Spirit of Death will learn that every attack against the father’s voice only leads to amplification of the fathers voice in the culture. No weapon formed against fathers by the Spirit of Death will prosper.

4. Engage in spiritual warfare. Those of Christian faith know that we are in a spiritual battle and that we must increase our prayers and intercession. The enemy is not the media or those persons who speak against fathers; the real enemy is Satan the father of lies and deception who desires death for all people. We pray with the confidence and faith that God has ordained life and order in culture. We know that God reigns so we pray in Faith.
5. We celebrate the goodness and grace and love of God. We celebrate his plans to bless and prosper, not to destroy. We celebrate that this present attack by the Spirit of Death will not be successful. We celebrate that life and blessings will abound in Paraguay and in regions beyond in spite of these attacks. We celebrate that the Father’s voice will be heard in all nations.

*’fathers’ in this statement can include ‘mothers’ or anyone who lays out behavioral options with potential consequences so that the young have the best information to inform their freedom of choice.

By Enos Daniel Martin

Horeb, my son-in-law, and Don Hess and I have been traveling in Paraguay from Asuncion up to Filadelfia and back, over the past week. We have been connecting and listening and laying the foundation for the start of the ALMA missionary training school in February 2019.

It is clear that God is doing amazing things in Paraguay, stirring peoples’ hearts for missions within the denominational churches and outside of denominational churches. We were humbled by the grace and passion and effectiveness of the missions initiatives here.

Yet there is a sense that the harvest is so great that God is engaging unlikely people, such as ourselves, to participate in the harvest, even at this 11th hour.

And the harvesters who are already fully engaged, have been gracious enough to welcome us, encourage us and even speak prophetic words over us. One well-known evangelist here in Paraguay said to us, “ You are coming at just the right time to start an intensive, missionary training program focused on reaching the unreached in the world with the Gospel”.

He added that there are numbers of people in Paraguay feeling the call to go into missions in the most difficult areas of the world. Our program, based on the model God showed us in East Africa, can contribute to the development of a steady stream, if not a flow of missionaries to the world, including to the Middle East.

All this causes me to reflect with gratitude upon Eloise and Richard Gwinn who for 30 years dreamed and planned to start a missionary training school. They built an amazing campus that could give residence for at least 100 students. Richard died six years ago, not having seen the fulfillment of his vision. But Eloise lives at the edge of the campus still believing, still praying that she will yet see the vision fulfilled.

Now she and we together have been joined together in heart to fulfill that vision.

Vaughn Martin, founder and director of the Ukunda mission will spend a month of prayer here Paraguay later this spring in preparation for starting the ALMA mission school based on the foundation laid by Richard and Eloise Gwinn

It takes an army to bring in the harvest. Pray that God will continue to raise up harvesters.

We are now on our way home from our prayer trip to Paraguay. We are flying home via Lima, Peru, then San Salvador and then to Dulles by 9:30 pm having left at 5 am.

Vaughn presented the missionary training vision to groups of pastors and church leaders in Ascunsion; in Escobar the site of the proposed school; and in Filidelfia a center of the German Mennonite community. In addition Vaughn received a number of invitations to speak in churches in Ascunsion and in Filidelfia. (Horeb was affirmed as an interpreter).

Many of us prayed that God would decrease the intensity of the stage 5 hurricane, Irma, and change her direction. God answered that prayer. Blessed be His name.

Meteorologists are now saying that the Bermuda High was the weather system which blocked the hurricane from venting it’s full fury on Florida.

I am on a prayer trip (Sept. 6-19) to the beautiful country of Paraguay with my son Vaughn and my son-in-law Horeb Penya, married to my youngest daughter, Sonya.

We are listening to God for direction in starting a missionary training school in Paraguay similar to the one that Vaughn directs in East Africa.

God keeps speaking, “The harvest is ready, but where are the harvesters?”

God has connected us with some awesome Christian believers here in Paraguay who truly have a heart for the harvest and are joining us in prayer that “the Lord of the Harvest would send forth laborers into his harvest even from this proposed missionary training school.”

We are proposing to start the school in February 2019 on a beautiful campus near Asuncion, able to house over 100 students in residence. This campus was developed by Richard Gwinn (now deceased) and his wife Eloise now a minister in our New Testament Fellowship of Churches. Amazingly, our vision for a missionary training school is almost identical to that of the Gwinns. We plan to call the school by the name which they used, ALMA, America Latina Misiones Al-Mundo (Latin American Missions to the World)

In the pictures, Vaughn and Horeb are ministering to the youth at The Rock Church, an evangelical Mennonite Church in Ascunsion, pastored by a wonderful couple, Anton and Lolita Harder.