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BURK
IN A FASO The Burks work for God among the Dagara of Burkina Faso, West Africa and are supported by the Homewood Church of Christ in Birmingham, Alabama. |
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Not Peace, But a Sword.
I realize that you are probably tempted to skim or even delete this email instead of taking the time to read it. However, I have a good Dagara friend who really needs some divine help. Would you please take the time to read this and pray for him? God has taken care of us since we have come to Burkina through the people that work for us. Our night guard, Bayuo blesses us and protects us in many ways. He is also a good friend. Recently, though, Satan has been attacking him. I have been studying with him for almost a year now and I know he wants to follow God with all his heart, but he has been stalling his acceptance of the act of baptism for a while. We had talked about the importance of both he and his wife being baptized, so I thought he was waiting on her. I also misunderstood something he told me a month or so ago. I thought he had said that his wife's family had told him that they would take his wife back were he to convince her to be baptized, but they had said that they would take her back even if he decided to be baptized himself. .
. . Bayuo
[is being forced to choose] between keeping his wife or following God.
You see, among the Dagara, a man and his wife can live together even before the bride price has been paid. This occurs mainly because it takes most Dagara many years to scrape the money together to pay for all the cows and chickens and other things that make up the bride price. Bayuo is in such a situation. Were he to buy two more cows (each costs about a month's wage) and give them to Natalie's family, then she would truly be his, and they could do nothing about this decision. However, as it stands, she is still considered as belonging to them and if he does something that they don't like they can basically annul the marriage. So Satan has used his wife's family to force Bayuo into a choice between keeping his wife or following God. Bayuo's parents are both dead, so I talked to his "adopted" father, Felicien, who told me he would have a talk with Bayuo's father-in-law about the threat that he has laid at Bayuo's feet. This was a week or so ago, and I have yet to hear back from him what they have decided. However, in the mean time in a manner that sort of reminded me of the Ethiopian Eunuch, we were driving down the road to Boncholi and he asked me to baptize him. He wanted it to be a secret though. I told him that I would keep it a secret from his family, but that he needed to tell a trusted Dagara Christian, so he told the Johnson's night guard, Alois. Bayuo has also been under attack physically. He has contracted a mysterious illness that keeps him worried all the time. It hasn't kept him in bed, but it worries him. I know that God could really use this sickness for His glory in Bayuo's life were He to heal him. Having grown up in a country where persecution is so rare or even non-existent, I have felt both frustration at Bayuo's family and also respect for Bayuo's bravery and faith in making his decision to follow Christ in such difficult circumstances. All of this reminds me of Jesus' words, "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn 'a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law - a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.' Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." Please Pray for physical healing for Bayuo for wisdom for all of us in thwarting Satan's lies in Bayuo's life. for strength for Bayuo to stand up for what he believes. for God to soften Natalie's family's hearts to repent and to allow her and Bayuo to make their own decisions about whom they will follow. May the Lord bless you and keep you all, Aaron, Andrea,
and Daniel Burk dagara_news-request@lists.niinet.net click this link to send an email to the list administrator and subscribe, unsubscribe, or get help on this list. Just put 'subscribe,' 'unsubscribe,' or 'help' in the subject line of your email |