Participants: Steven Grabiner
Series Code: OCIR
Program Code: OCIR000006
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00:13 Some people argue that religion
00:15 is the root of all the world's problems. 00:18 Well, this claim is clearly debatable. 00:21 Those who profess to have faith in God 00:24 need to be willing to examine whether their lives 00:27 and their beliefs rightly represented. 00:31 A perceptive author has written 00:33 that the world is dark 00:35 with misapprehension of the character of God. 00:39 Partial or incorrect truths 00:42 can bind us into a kind of spiritual slavery. 00:46 Join us as we explore an OCI Ministry 00:50 that is working to free people from wrong ideas 00:54 about the character of God. 01:13 The beautiful island of Zanzibar 01:15 has a rich and varied history. 01:17 It's well known for its many exports. 01:21 Unfortunately there's a dark side 01:23 to Zanzibar's history as well. 01:26 In the 19th century for decades 01:29 Zanzibar was the center of a horrific slave trade. 01:35 Behind me is where slaves from the mainland we're taken 01:38 and then sold to slave traders. 01:42 These poor individuals were ripped from their homes 01:45 and disbursed throughout the region. 01:48 Zanzibar is now connected with that mainland 01:52 through being part of the Republic of Tanzania. 01:55 The Tanzanian people are very diverse, 01:58 yet they are united through a common culture and language. 02:04 Religion plays a dominant role in this society. 02:09 The three main religions are Islam, Christianity, 02:13 and the animist for local religions 02:15 each of them comprising about 30 percent on the population. 02:22 Tanzania is also the home of an OCI Ministry called Kibidula. 02:27 It is set in the region of Mafinga 02:29 and located on a 4,700 acre farm. 02:34 The National and international staff 02:37 are united together in doing what they can 02:39 to free the Tanzanian people from the spiritual slavery 02:43 that comes from misapprehension of the character of God. 02:51 This farm belong to colonial farmer 02:55 back in the colonial era. 02:58 His wife was a Seventh-day Adventist. 03:00 When this country gained its independence 03:02 he chose to return to his homeland, South Africa. 03:06 And when he left he donated the whole farm 03:08 to the Seventh-day Adventist Church. 03:12 The church tried to do different projects here 03:15 and never had much success, 03:18 finally the church contacted Riverside 03:20 and asked if they would be willing to try 03:22 and set up a self-supporting mission station on Kibidula. 03:26 Our goal here is to be of service to the church, 03:31 to spread the gospel in Tanzania. 03:34 One of the things we would like to do 03:35 is to help strengthen the existing church members 03:38 in their knowledge of God. 03:41 And many times it's easier for us 03:43 to have a wrong understanding 03:44 of how God is and the plan of salvation. 03:47 And we're trying through our training programs 03:50 and in seminars and our teaching 03:52 to continue to strengthen church members 03:55 in their understanding of God 03:57 and of the plan of salvation and His love for us. 04:02 At the school we have, 04:04 now we have 80 students this year. 04:07 The children who come here they are from six year old, 04:10 so they have one year pre-school. 04:12 And then they start what we call standard one 04:15 which is grade one and then go up to seventh grade. 04:18 So they end up primary school here in Tanzania is seventh 04:21 and then they go on to secondary school. 04:24 Our goal with the school is to give the students 04:26 a good education in English 04:29 because in the secondary schools here, 04:31 everything is in English 04:33 and so it can be a big challenge for people. 04:36 Another reasons why we have the school in that 04:39 we want the kids to know Christ. 04:42 Every day we start with worship 04:44 and we take the kids out to visit churches and villages 04:47 to help them get an experience 04:50 in sharing their faith with others 04:52 and I think that one of the most rewarding things 04:54 about working in a place like this is to see 04:56 how Christ is pulling on the hearts of these children. 05:00 Ask questions and some are anxious 05:03 to know that Christ is coming back soon and that- 05:07 to have their successful and happy life here on earth 05:11 and in for eternity to know 05:15 Christ is the most important thing that they can do. 05:19 The children that come here to school 05:21 they don't pay school fees to come here 05:23 because we don't want the school 05:25 to be just an option for the rich children. 05:28 And so all the children they come here for free. 05:33 And so the parents which are very happy 05:35 for this option for their children, 05:36 they have decided that they would like to come 05:39 and do this field press 05:41 and so they're here today planting soybeans and maze. 05:47 From time to time we take a few hours 05:49 to cut the grass and clean the paths 05:53 and this is where they live 05:56 many hours every day, every week, 05:58 you know, and feel to keep it tidy 06:01 and it's nice that children are participating in that. 06:06 Today we're making a park like a wooded area 06:09 where they can eat their lunch and things like that, yeah. 06:26 The goal of this school is to reach the laymen 06:31 that don't have the opportunity to go to school 06:35 and get the theology training. 06:37 And we have just discovered that they are many people 06:41 that church members that have got their gifts. 06:45 They have their talents, they have- 06:47 they are ready to present the gospel 06:49 but they're lack of the training. 06:51 And so we tried to organize our program 06:53 to reach basically to layman themselves, 06:55 just to keep them with some knowledge 06:58 so that they can be able to reach other people. 07:01 Realizing that we have many students 07:03 that come even from Muslim areas 07:06 we have funds and people that are gifted- 07:08 that have been well trained in that area. 07:11 So in every session that we have we asked them to come, 07:15 they come for a week to give that training to our people. 07:18 And those that come from the Muslim areas 07:21 they get lot of blessings. 07:27 I was born into a Muslim family, 07:30 from 1992 to 1998 07:33 I was trained in the laws of Islam. 07:37 Then in 2006, I made the decision 07:41 to become a Christian. 07:44 The top Islamic leaders were called 07:46 to convince me, to come back, 07:49 but they were unable to answer the questions 07:51 that I was asking them. 07:54 In my studies here at Kibidula, 07:56 I discovered I do not have 07:58 the deeper understanding of the scriptures. 08:02 But when I came here my mind was expanded. 08:05 I had much more understanding, 08:07 especially lessons that had to do with the law of God, 08:10 prophecy and much more. 08:14 And this is making me more confident 08:15 in what I am doing and I know I've made the right choice. 08:26 The country of Tanzania has two economic engines. 08:30 The first one that usually comes to mind is tourism, 08:33 with the towering mountain Kilimanjaro, 08:36 the iconic plains of the Serengeti 08:39 and the long coastline with the many beaches. 08:41 But it's really agriculture 08:43 that is the powerhouse behind Tanzania's economy. 08:47 Almost two-thirds of the Tanzanian workforce 08:50 is involved in someway in agriculture, 08:53 whether it's growing crops for local consumption or export, 08:57 the large tea estates 08:59 or the large tracks of timber that's used for lumber. 09:02 Agriculture contributes to almost 50 percent 09:05 of Tanzania's gross domestic product. 09:09 Many of the people in the rural areas 09:10 however are subsistence farmers. 09:14 Kibidula is to help these rural farmers 09:18 improve their agricultural skills. 09:21 Many of the young people in the villages around here 09:24 don't get the opportunity to go on to secondary school. 09:27 And see you got all these young people 09:29 with little future in front of them. 09:31 And so we've set up 09:33 the school of agriculture with the idea that, 09:36 if they're going to become subsistence farmers, 09:38 at least they could do good at it. 09:41 While they're here they learn principles of agriculture, 09:44 you know, gardening, field crops 09:46 but also principles of health and Bible classes 09:49 and we teach them English and other general subjects, 09:52 maths and science, and help them through life 09:56 to live life more successfully 09:58 even if they don't go on to higher education 10:01 but become leaders in their village, in their setting. 10:09 I've been learning agriculture 10:11 especially how to care for the soil. 10:15 Also here at Kibidula we've been studying the Bible, 10:19 how to have a good life here in this world 10:21 and in the future life to come. 10:23 We've been studying these classes 10:26 and we see their importance 10:27 for getting ready for Jesus second coming. 10:32 When I leave Kibidula my life will be different 10:35 because when I go back home 10:37 I will be practicing agriculture that takes care of the soil. 10:42 Before I wasn't following the Bible 10:45 but now I will try to live my life 10:47 in accordance with the Bible. 10:52 Now over the years much of our outreach 10:54 and ministry has been supported by fundraising 10:58 and in recent times we found that 11:02 the fundraising has become more difficult. 11:05 The need to rely on what we can generate here 11:09 has increased and put pressure on us. 11:13 Since I've been here we've had avocado trees growing 11:16 and we've noticed they are excellent fruit 11:19 and somehow it didn't cross our mind for many years 11:22 that that could be a commercial item. 11:24 There's areas of Tanzania where they grow lot of avocado's 11:27 and we just never got into it, but people started to mention, 11:31 hey, your avocados are much better. 11:34 Now we have about a thousand trees planted 11:37 and we do have another thousand trees in seedlings 11:41 getting ready to be planted. 11:44 I believe that as a self-supporting institution 11:48 we always aim to support ourselves through our industry 11:52 and agriculture has not always been very good here. 11:55 We've tried field crop, wheat, barley, triticale in past years. 12:01 But right now with the possibility of avocados, 12:03 we see potential there for sustaining 12:07 at least part of Kibidula with growing avocados. 12:12 Another project towards self sustainability here 12:16 is the sheep project we've started a couple of years ago. 12:21 We have a lot of land here 12:23 and even though it's not very fertile, 12:24 the grass grows well. 12:26 Sheep eat the grass and so the idea is that 12:29 we could support quite a bit of sheep here 12:31 and in turn sell the sheep and support Kibidula. 12:38 We started with 10 sheep two years ago 12:43 and they worked out great 12:45 so then we increased it slowly overtime. 12:50 The interesting part has being to studying 12:53 to the soil fertility to see also that probably 12:58 people are lacking in the same minerals as the sheep do 13:02 and these might help us to develop new ways of farming, 13:07 so we can help the villagers improve their crops. 13:11 I think working with sheep gives us insight 13:15 into a different culture of herdsmanship 13:21 and that's the Bible culture. 13:23 And working with sheep is something 13:25 that makes you humble 13:27 and realizing that herdsman are the ones 13:31 that God has chosen to announce the arrival of Christ. 13:36 I pictured the same herdsman like the Messiah, 13:39 you know people with not much school education 13:43 but with open heart for nature and for Christ coming. 13:53 Wrong images of God's character 13:56 are routed in wrong thinking patterns. 14:00 Clearly the ability to read the Bible is an invaluable aid 14:04 to forming a right understanding of God's character. 14:08 In a moment, we'll be exploring some other avenues 14:13 that Kibidula is using to accomplish this aim. 14:17 We share the globe with about seven billion people, 14:23 that's a lot of people 14:24 and standing here in this busy city 14:27 it's easy to feel small and insignificant. 14:31 After all, I'm only one person what different can I make? 14:35 But the fact is, each of us can make a difference. 14:38 God is calling us to turn our lives 14:41 and our skills over to Him. 14:45 Around the world the individual workers at OCI Ministries 14:49 are letting God use them to bring hope 14:51 and healing one person at a time. 14:55 You can make a difference too. 14:58 When you connect to OCI, 15:00 you connect to more than 80 ministries worldwide. 15:05 If you're interested in getting involved 15:07 in the global ministry of OCI, 15:10 visit our website or call our office 15:13 we would love to talk to you. 15:18 The team at Kibidula has been using a variety of tools 15:23 to teardown the strongholds 15:25 of the misunderstanding of the nature of God. 15:29 Producing and distributing literature 15:32 is one of the divinely inspired methods 15:35 to bring a clear focus of who God is. 15:41 The printed words I find it's especially effective 15:45 because you know long after will be gone 15:48 that'll still keep preaching wherever it's been scattered. 15:52 Kibidula translates Christian books 15:56 and health books into Swahili 15:58 and has them printed at different printing presses 16:01 in America, in Korea and even here in Tanzania. 16:05 We get one or two complaints per year 16:08 of books to Dar Es Salaam 16:10 and then its stored near that. 16:12 We just built a new facility there 16:14 where we can store the books nicely 16:16 and it's uplifting the country 16:18 and we have a person there in charge 16:22 who delivers the book. 16:23 So whenever there is an order 16:25 he makes it ready and then we ship it from there. 16:28 There are about 2,000 colporteurs 16:30 in Tanzania selling our books 16:33 and so we're able to move quite a large number of books 16:38 and not only is it outreach 16:41 but its outreach that pays for itself. 16:44 We've heard from different areas 16:46 that the whole congregations 16:49 have gotten hold of our literature 16:51 and have been converted to the Adventist faith. 16:55 Evangelism in Tanzania 16:58 like anywhere else has its challenges. 17:01 Here in Tanzania, especially we face 17:03 maybe half the country claims to be Muslim. 17:07 There's a lot of spiritualism and witchcraft 17:10 even within the Seventh-day Adventist Church 17:11 there is a lot of struggles with legalism, 17:13 its just understanding simple justification by faith, 17:17 a simple Gospel of Jesus Christ. 17:19 But here at Kibidula I think that we have been in our light, 17:24 the local community in Tanzania as a whole. 17:26 Some 40-odd students we each here and go, 17:30 back in to Tanzania as graduates from our school of Evangelism 17:33 and their trading companies doing Bible studies, 17:36 starting churches, spreading the gospel. 17:39 Kibidula supports 35 lay evangelists 17:43 and these people are doing the groundwork, 17:46 cutting-edge evangelism, you know, that we want to see. 17:51 So far we have 53 lay missionaries 17:56 who are in remote areas. 17:59 What encourages me? 18:01 It's the heart should be how for their work? 18:04 They are saying we know for sure that God has called us. 18:08 We move forward no mater what, 18:11 that kind of a spirit is from God 18:15 and He's encouraging so much 18:17 that you can keep on praying for them 18:18 that they can continue with their work in those areas. 18:29 The one day churches are simple, 18:31 steel structure that can be put up in a matter of hours 18:33 with no prior site preparation basically. 18:38 Between Maranatha and ASI 18:41 we've been given about 180 one day churches so far. 18:47 It's designed for people who can't effort 18:49 to put up a fancy church structure. 18:51 They can't afford to put a roof on their own church. 18:55 And so here we can come 18:56 and build a church for them in one day 18:59 or in a matter of hours and then in their own time 19:02 they can put up the bricks, the walls, 19:05 the very same day after we put up a church building. 19:07 They can actually start having meetings, 19:09 if there's out of the rain, or they are out of the hot sun 19:12 and it provides good meeting place for them. 19:15 Many people have pointed out to us, 19:17 that as soon as they have the church built interests 19:21 increases in the church, that they suddenly feel like, 19:26 they are part of our real church that's, 19:28 you know, not just a couple of people 19:30 meeting under some trees somewhere 19:31 that the church in general 19:32 is growing at a rapid rate in Tanzania. 19:35 We've hardly been able to touch the need, 19:37 you know, with the 180 churches. 19:40 We have a stack of requests 19:42 and people all over the country want churches. 19:44 They can afford the bricks 19:45 because they make them themselves. 19:47 They can't afford the tin. 19:49 So when we come in and throw up a structure 19:51 and walkway and give them the ten, they just love it. 19:54 It's been a real blessing for Kibidula 19:57 to be part of this project 19:58 because it ties us, you know, 20:01 close to the people out there because the congregations. 20:03 They realize this blesses coming through us 20:07 by way of the one day church. 20:09 They know that you ask Kibidula for one day churches 20:13 and once they know about Kibidula 20:15 and they ask more questions and soon they realize 20:17 we've school of evangelism, we have a school of agriculture, 20:20 we have different programs going on 20:22 and its good PR for Kibidula. 20:25 The best part of building a one day church 20:27 is having a congregation of people that 20:30 they had no church or sub-standard building 20:32 that they are worshiping in 20:34 and to rejoice after having a church finished for them. 20:37 Up to now we don't have a campus church, 20:40 we've been meeting in the community church off campus 20:43 but now I feel the time has come 20:45 that we need a campus church to meet together every Sabbath 20:49 and to draw our staff and our student's altogether, 20:52 keep the vision strong amongst ourselves. 20:56 We've just started construction on a campus church 20:59 that will be large enough to accommodate 21:01 all of our staff and all of our students 21:04 and visitors right here on campus. 21:14 I've been the pilot here since 1994. 21:19 I did the flying in medical services 21:21 and then I got my mechanics license 21:24 so I did the maintenance as well. 21:29 We used to have a medical clinic here 21:31 and so we did village medical programs 21:35 about three days a week we would go to villages 21:38 to the medical clinics in the village. 21:40 We weren't carrying patients 21:42 but we were doing the treatment in the villages. 21:46 Eventually we didn't have a doctor anymore 21:48 and our medical services closed, 21:51 so we started just servicing our lay missionaries 21:55 who live in remote places. 21:57 It became clear that plane was too small 22:00 for the long distances we were traveling. 22:03 So then we started building a four seater plane 22:07 that can also land on short runways. 22:10 And if we ever got medical going again here 22:14 than medical aviation servicing our lay missionaries 22:17 again would be easier, we could carry equipment, 22:19 fly out to village and do some things 22:21 with the missionaries in remote places. 22:26 There's been very little understanding in Tanzania 22:31 of Adventist health message. 22:34 Many people don't understand 22:35 that there actually is a lifestyle 22:37 that can prevent lifestyle diseases 22:41 because even though Africa has been poor 22:44 and has lagged behind the rest of the world 22:46 in many of the western diseases. 22:48 It's coming at a rapid rate and diabetes, 22:52 high blood pressure, heart disease, 22:54 cancer, it's all here now. 22:57 And so we're starting a lifestyle course 23:02 in our training center here 23:04 to teach people principles of health 23:06 and then in turn we would teach them how to teach others. 23:16 Kibidula's Bible workers carry a heavy burden. 23:19 They do a lot of personal evangelism, 23:22 distributing literature, 23:23 giving Bible studies from home to home. 23:26 In addition to this, 23:27 they conduct full-scale evangelistic series, 23:30 often being gone from home for weeks at a time. 23:34 However they don't labor alone, 23:37 with them is the supportive and loving work of their wives. 23:41 These women face special challenges 23:44 in order to meet their needs 23:46 Kibidula invites them back to the campus once a year. 23:50 While here they enjoy the fellowship of other women. 23:54 They receive revival, encouragement 23:57 and special training adapted to their needs. 24:01 We have realized that sometimes 24:03 men will find it very difficult to go if they have got wives 24:07 that don't understand what their calling is. 24:09 So we thought of helping them to understand 24:12 that this responsibility is a team work. 24:16 If a husband and wife can understand their goal, 24:19 the call that God has given them 24:21 then they can give support to one another, 24:23 they can give the encouragement to one another. 24:25 And sometimes just their blend itself would make the husband 24:29 get that which is lacking in himself, 24:31 which the woman couldn't do. 24:32 Usually twice a year we have all our lay missionaries 24:35 from different areas of Tanzania come to Kibidula 24:38 and we spend a weekend with them, 24:40 rubbing shoulders, exchanging ideas 24:42 and they tell us, you know, some of the work 24:44 they have accomplished and we receive their reports. 24:47 This time we decided to invite their wives. 24:49 These wives face challenges that are unique to their situations. 24:54 Here ladies have hard lives, sometimes many little children. 24:58 I've seen and heard often 25:01 where the lady becomes discouraged or tired 25:04 and ultimately it cuts down on the husband's performance. 25:08 My husband goes house-to-house as a missionary 25:12 and gives public meetings at night. 25:16 I'm very happy because even before we were married 25:18 I was doing the same work. 25:23 One of the challenges I face as a wife 25:25 is that my husband is doing this missionary work 25:28 and sometimes there are little results. 25:31 He becomes discouraged and I have to try 25:34 to help him keep moving forward. 25:37 Sometimes we have struggles, not enough money 25:40 or not enough things to meet our needs 25:43 but as we pray and are patience, 25:45 the Lord has always been faithful. 25:49 Even these meetings that are happening right now 25:52 it's like the Lord prepared them especially for me. 25:55 I see the Lord's hand helping to encourage me 25:57 for the challenges I have been facing over the past year. 26:00 It's like He has opened a door 26:02 and He's revealing to me His will 26:04 and how to move forward. 26:06 We are humans, we're all the same, 26:08 we are all going through similar experiences 26:11 and one of the greatest encouragements 26:14 to fellow believers or even non-believers 26:17 is that they can see that there's hope for that person, 26:22 that person's going through a hard time 26:24 and yet there's some power 26:26 that he or she is experiencing and that might lead people 26:30 to inquire about that or ask, you know, why can you go on? 26:34 Where do you find your strength? 26:36 Why is it that you can keep serving in this village 26:39 when everyone's treating you with hostility? 26:42 It's nothing less than a miracle to keep giving of yourself 26:45 and you're not receiving anything back 26:48 and I think that is what the gospel 26:50 correctly understood can do for you. 26:57 A misunderstanding of God's character 27:00 is not restricted to any one region or religion. 27:04 Since the entrance of sin into this world 27:08 the great adversary of souls 27:10 has been doing what he can to misrepresent God. 27:14 Wrong concepts of God bring people into a dark slavery. 27:20 A team at Kibidula is doing what they can 27:24 to free people from that slavery using literature, education, 27:29 evangelism and service to the community. 27:33 They are dispelling the darkness 27:35 of the misapprehension of God. 27:38 You too can be part in this great work. 27:41 Wherever you are you can reflect God's true goodness. 27:46 Please visit us at outpostcenters.org 27:50 to learn more about the growing worldwide work 27:52 at OCI and our member ministries. 27:56 To contact us email info@outpostcenters.org 28:01 or please call us at 423-236-5600. 28:07 We would love to hear from you. 28:13 For OCI Reports, this is Steven Grabiner. |
Revised 2014-12-17