December s Focus on Celebes/Indonesia

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1 Dr. David Upp s Mission Link 12/2018 Focus on Sulawesi: Relief Needed on Next Island South from My Seminary on Mindanaoêîè Earthquake s Liquified Land in Palu plus MUD of Tsunami wiped out the Petobo Area! IMAGINE the Forces!! Roa Roa Hotel was Smashed! vestibulum: lorem ipsum Fusce tellus enim, semper vitae, malesuada vitae, condimentum vel, ligula. Vivamus in ipsum et nisl fringilla eleifend. Donec pulvinar placerat massa. Sed nec lorem. dolor Pellentesque See more at ullamcorper ultricies turpis. Integer est. Sed nec lacus. Nunc est. lorem dolor Aenean diam velit, rutrum vitae, tempor ut, sodales eget, mauris. Sed nec lacus. Maecenas et lorem. Ut et nisl id turpis varius faucibus. Integer et felis. Sed libero. December s Focus on Celebes/Indonesia Since part of our Family is from Indonesia, we probably hear more about it than most of you plus now the Seminary where I teach is just North of The Celebes Sea from my Mindanao campus (& Kalimantan/Borneo is even closer, Straight West). Later in this issue, you ll find a map of Indonesia color-coded to show each area s Majority Religion! You ll see it is NOT Monolithically Mohammedan NOR as Linguistically Monolithic as you may have thought (6 Different Groups of Malayo-Polynesian Tongues, plus hundreds more on 1/2 of New Guinea), over seven-hundred languages spoken in 1 Nation! This includes insights for further Mission Work. I encourage you to read about The UMC s hope to help [ news-and-stories/2018/october/support-and-solidarity-forindonesia], via Gereja MI (Methodist Church of Indonesia), but apparently nothing has been done yet. GMI Bishop Sabam Tobing met with UMCOR leaders in Seoul, Korea. Brenda V. NGuwa from Hilltop UMC in Mutare, Zimbabwe has finished a year as a Missionary Intern at John Wesley Seminary in Jakarta. [I preached at Hilltop UMC, and was invited to teach at JWS, but only via translations into Bahasa Indonesian!]

2 AUSTRONESIAN TONGUES [= Southern Islanders ]: Here s the color coding for the Map on the Left: Pink = Oceanic, Olive = Central Malayo-Polynesian Plus Maroon = Sunda/ Sulawesi. Orange = Bornean, Purple = Halmahera-Cenderawasih, & Teal = Philippine (Notice loop down onto N. Sulawesi Peninsula!), [no other Language Families are shown]. This is a LINGUISTIC, not a Political Analysis: Border Crossing Goes Both Ways Between these Two Countries! Please, notice there are Bornean [Indonesian] Languages spoken in The Philippines, exactly as there are Philippine Languages spoken in North Sulawesi Province. Filipinos in Basilan & in Tawi-Tawi Philippine Provinces speak tongues classified within the Branch of Borneo (orange lines cross borders with Brunei and Malaysia). The idea that national boundaries must coincide with linguistic borders died with Adolf Hitler (who claimed all Germanspeaking populations belonged to the Germany he ruled; he also conquered non-germanic peoples [e.g. Slavic areas], inconsistent with his stated principles). East Timor includes five Tribes in Papuan Language Family, along with 22 Central M-P tongues; Bornean Languages are also spoken on Madagascar, East of South Africa! Furthermore, Second Languages supplement Mother-Tongues: like Bahasa Indonesian & Pilipino [= Tagalog], reinforcing national unity in regions where languages of different groups are spoken side-by-side. ALL Speakers of the Austronesian Language Family share a Proud Heritage! Before the Age of European Colonization, Austronesian was THE most widely-spread-family globally: from Madagascar to Easter Island, Chile: Spanning 209º of Longitude! All Malayo-Polynesians are descended from their home-land of Matang/ Formosa & expanded to the South via Batanes Islands, Luzon, Visayas, & Mindanao to their current locations in Many nations [New Zealand, Hawaii, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Kiribati, Palau ]! LUMPIA a Treat Found ONLY in Indonesia and The Philippines! Most Cultures have some Food which is wrapped up in Bread [crepe/kreplach,empanada, pita, momo/dimsum/siomai,sandwich, kreplach, gyros many MORE]. Lumpia is our region s version. Rolled up in a thin pastry skin are fillings: like chopped leek, carrots, cabbages, green beans, & bamboo shoots. Usually add minced meat (chicken, shrimp, beef; + pork for non-muslims). Min-Chinese immigrants in both countries introduced their fresh runbing. Lumpia s sealed at both ends, deep-fried, & index-fingersized. It s a common part of our breakfast, & is always featured at our Feasts and Celebrations! 2

3 Religions in MY Region: Color is for Majority Faith: Blue equals Protestant, Red is Catholic, Green is Islam (Darker shades = a stronger Majority). DON T think ALL Indonesia is Muslim! Focus on SULAWESI: I live on the RED Island near the center of the map above. Straight South is the large (spidery) island of Celebes [or as it is said in Bahasa Indonesian Sulawesi]. In-between are two strings of Blue Dots: the Sangiric Islands and the Minahassa Islands (parts of Indonesia, but speaking languages of the Central Philippine Group ). Notice long thin Northern Peninsula of Sulawesi. [PALU, the city devastated by the recent Tsunami, is located where that bends from North to East UMC might help them: support-and-solidarity-for-indonesia]. North Sulawesi Province is partly Christian & begins where the green becomes a lighter shade; with 17 Tongues, {Gorontalo, Mongondow, Sangir, Talaud, Tonsea, Tondano, Tonsawang, Tontemboan, Tombulu, & more}. Farther South are other heavily Protestant Language Groups [Pamona & Toraja], but they speak Sunda-Suawesi Group Languages of The Malayo-Polynesian Language Family. Due East of the Tip is Halmahera (where my father traveled as a USNavy Officer in WWII), center of the early Portuguese colonization in the 1500 s, because of its proximity to the Spice Islands [where cloves & nutmeg first grew]. Their national government urged all Indonesians to abandon native Traditional Religions and convert to a World Religion, often whole Tribes shifted as one (Anecdote: the choice could boil down to Christians can still eat beloved PORK, but Muslims cannot). Pressure against Christians by the Muslim Javanese [who run the country Politically], has become fanatic and fierce (forcing East Timor to become a separate country). Overpopulated Java has sent Muslim Migrants to overwhelmingly Christian New Guinea (the very largest island on the map above). I ve worked with Bible Translators on New Guinea, and visited & worshipped with Iban Protestants on Borneo. Now I m encouraging Philippine Protestants to consider learning those closely-related tongues of Sulawesi, to serve in Evangelistic Missions with their Neighbors! Please, PRAY for these Islanders! 3

4 ML s TRIVIA QUESTIONS: November TQ: When is a Professor NOT a PROFESSOR? Answer: When he/she is NOT a Professor, that is, one who has not publicly Professed personal Faith in our Biblical Religion! I Timothy 6:12-13 [key word is homologéō to-say-the same, = to profess/confess the Faith which all Christians have received] 'Fight the good fight, take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, when you professed the good profession in the presence of many Witnesses. I charge you before God, who gives life to all things, & Christ Jesus, who testified the good profession before Pontus Pilate.' Saint Paul At the very heart of the Western University system, for the Protection of all our Students, is the Absolute requirement that professors BE Professors; or they will inevitably lead their students astray, away from our God.] In the name of "Academic Freedom" we have lost this: EVEN in our very own UM SEMINARIES! In a Christology Text this term, relating to Schweitzer's Quest for the Historical Jesus, a so-called "Professor" wrote 'I have no stake in this, no bias: I am an agnostic [of atheistic leanings].' Imagine: A Christology Professor who doesn't believe in Christ or any Creator-God! He has no Profession of Faith, upon which to experience Jesus as our Lord. A key member of "The Jesus Seminar" used to met me at monthly Ministerial Breakfasts & claimed to be a "Conservative" (because he thought momentary glimpses of The Historical Jesus might still be discernible amidst all of the pericopes about The Christ of Faith... whereas the majority did not believe the 4 Gospels have retained ANY historically reliable information). These are the "False PROFESSORS" who are still undermining our Seminarians' Faith today! Contrast this with I John 2:22 "Who is the Liar but the one who denies that Jesus IS the Christ? This is the Antichrist!" Have you been wondering HOW the crisis in the UMC arose? HOW ANY Bible-Believing Christian could possibly imagine that Sodomy is acceptable to the God who wiped Sodom out of existence? All who Practiced or condoned that Evil were slain! [Also study Ezekiel 9 on this.] Several years ago, there was a PURGE of Southern Baptist Seminary Profs who taught doctrines clearly against their Denomination s Beliefs. It was roundly condemned, but the SBC proceeded to pass the UMC in members & is now FAR Larger, while we continue to self-destruct. Do you teach: the Practice of Homosexuality IS incompatible with Christian Faith? No? Then, you must GO! We must purge Enemy Agents, Pro- Sodomites out from Our Church. "Therefore: GO!" Scram! You are Not Christians! Not Protestants! Not Methodists! You must be purged from our Seminaries, so that faith can be Restored in our congregations world-wide! GO! December TQ: How many Full, Foreign Missionaries Are currently serving the UMC outside of the USA? [Reference: We USED to have 758, in India alone!] 4

5 Quick Review of 2018 Seen in my Pictures of 12 Months, 12 Nations, 14 States, 14 Courses! 5