News From Mongolia - John and Altaa Gibbens

My good friends John and Altaa Gibbens have been involved in Bible translation and later humanitarian work, in Mongolia since the early 1970's. Altaa (Altaanchimeg) was possibly the first Christian convert in Mongolia in the twentieth century - in 1970's and early 1980's you could probably count the number of Mongolia believers on one hand, spread across a country of about 3 million, but the size of western Europe.

After alot of initial interest in Christianity and a revival of Buddhism, many Mongolians have now returned to Shamanistic beliefs -below gives a bit of insight about what this means in Mongolian society.

QUICK PRAYER POINTS No. 73
========================

Thursday 21st January 2010


Some people have requested some matters for prayer. These are:

• Please give thanks to God for the continued work on the translation.
Now a good proportion of the Bible text has been edited after the
second read-through. Editing started in September 2009. Following
completion of that, the whole will need a quick read through, to
ensure the changes made read correctly and well. After that it can be
typeset. Work on compiling the glossary is going along steadily. That
and the introduction will both need to be translated.
• Since the early 1990s Mongolia received very many international
loans amounting to many billions of dollars. It was widely alleged
that the main of this money disappeared into the pockets of people
through corruption. These loans now have to be repaid.
• In recent years, there has been a decline of Buddhism and
“Christianity” yet the very strong and very widespread rise of a far
more natural Mongolian religion. This is shamanism, the religion which
Genghis Khan followed, the name in whose power he conquered Euro-Asia
to be the world’s largest empire. Mongolians do not question the
strength of the supernatural power that is being talked about here. It
is deeply revered as very strong and people are very much afraid of
it. No one jokes about it or plays with it. Mongolians believe they
are connecting with the power in space, the “eternal sky ruler”.
Nowadays most families have one of their members as a practising
shaman.

Professor, Dr Bum-Ochir, who studied anthropology at Cambridge
University appeared on Mongolian TV channel 8 03/01/2009 and stated,
“many people are becoming shamans”. This is mainly people aged 18-25.
He said, “any of them are well off and well educated and have been
abroad to live or to study”. Some are giving up well paid careers to
do that. “It is not a backward, blind faith”, he said, “Many have had
visions and spiritual experiences”. Tuva is a province in Russia, to
the north of the Mongolian border. He said, “A man who became a shaman
had no knowledge at all of the Tuvinian language, yet under the power
of the spirit possessing him, he could speak the language perfectly
and intelligibly”. Bum-Ochir said “society is suitable for that now as
for the 70 years under Socialism shamanism was illegal”. He stated,
“it is not a religion, as it lacks any monastery, books or structure,
but depends on supernatural power falling on people who become
shamans”. “No one can volunteer to become that”. Only the “eternal sky
ruler” can send a spirit on a person and they have to receive it.
“Most of shamans are completely genuine. People do not desire to
become shamans. At first they refuse it. They then face getting ill or
dying unless they do become shamans. Many people come to me and say
they cannot live unless they become a shaman”.

There is no human mediator, it is a direct relationship between
“eternal sky ruler” and the person themselves.

The period under Socialism merely meant that these kind of beliefs
went underground, but they did not at all disappear. Thus, in
Mongolia, proof for the resurrection is never asked for, nor is an
argument for creation as against Darwinism. The reason is simple.
Mongolians have within their society a very strong belief in spirit
powers. For them, the question about the resurrection is not whether
the resurrection occurred, but whether or not it was a material body
as against a purely spiritual event and result. Mongolians believe in
supernatural and thus are very different from the materialistic West.
Evangelistic materials developed for the West do not work in Mongolia.

On 03/01/2009 three Mongolian girl students were overheard talking
with each other on a bus in Ulaanbaatar. They talked of a person they
knew who hade received the spirit of a hunting dog. That spirit helped
them get into college and have success. One of the girls had two
relatives who became ill. One became a shaman and the other a
Christian. The girls mocked the one who had become a Christian as they
knew shamanism is more powerful. The person whao had gone to a
Christian church later gave up the church. The 3 girls very obviously
strongly believed in shamanism.

It is true the era of 70 years of Socialism left a “spiritual vacuum”
but these people were not searching for God. There was no desire to be
set free from sin before the perfection and sinlessness of God. What
has excited them is the resurrection of the sort of faith that
genuinely is Mongolian. Shamanism has many seeming advantages over
either Buddhism or Christianity. These are:

o it is completely Mongolian, not foreign
o it requires no training but a spiritual experience from above
o no foreign language study is ever needed
o no big change to Mongolian life is needed
o it helps everyday life as it deals with curses
o it feels imminent
o a woman has complete equal rights, unlike Buddhism and Christianity
which have men at the top
o becoming a shaman is quick
o not the slightest risk of any persecution
o plenty of money as people pay them to place curses on others, have
curses placed om them by others removed, and all sorts of spiritual
things such as telling of a dead relative. Like the witch of Endor in
the Bible, they get the voice and all the rest of the dead person. It
is completely convincing as the person for whom this is done knows the
shaman has never met the dead relative and knows nothing at all about
them. People do not dare to refuse money, as they may be cursed, and a
shaman curse wrecks a family and brings death
o in Christianity the minister is seen as only a volunteer and in
Mongolia they are seen as merely getting money to live on. No shaman
will ever do that. They become shamans due to a spirit call.

Christianity has therefore spread in direct relation not only to the
amount of money a “church” has, but to the extent to which that form
of Christianity is alike to shamanism. Mongolians expect blessings
from the supernatural world. Thus talk of anything supernatural
attracts them. They are certainly not interested in sin and repentance
and the work of Christ on the cross, but in blessing. Many Mongolians
and missionaries frequently comment on this. Thus, without repentance,
the big interest has ben in talk about the Holy Spirit to give spirit
power and blessings, it is said. The missionary has not realised this
Mongolian desire for magic and the supernatural. They are used to the
West, where there is skepticism and materialistic concepts and the
idea of science having disproved the supernatural. In Mongolia,
existence of the supernatural is not doubted. Thus, new age teaching
and so on is extremely popular. Mongolians pretending to be “pastors”
realise this and use that sort of interest to attract more people,
talking much about the family and blessing. In this way they hope to
attract more foreign money. Mongolians do not have the concept of the
family and do not concentrate on it. This is a foreign, Western idea.



• Very recently International Support Service (ISS) needed to render
accounts to the Mongolian tax authority. The tax officer, a woman in
her 40s said she once went to a church, and said it was full of
screaming, crying women. She quickly escaped from it. She said people
tell each other to “go and get free coal” from this or that “church”.
(They attract people by giving out aid goods.) She sat in the office
reading the New Testament in Mongolian. She said it sounds OK. She
asked why people go to Gandan to the Buddhist monastery to donate, but
go to Christian groups to get. Underneath she seems interested. She
asked why though people connected with Christianity commit suicide. He
husband refuses to let children to read anything about Christianity.
He hates the way people from religious groups come and knock the door.
This is due to the suicides. Some say this is due to the demonic
activity from mixing shamanism (tenger) and Buddhism (burhan) with the
Bible. It was seen that the dislike she spoke of is due to the
suicides.
• There are major problems with ISS taxation. Most people in Mongolia
evade taxation. They do all in cash only. A new law has been produced
that if an organisation pays for something to some who does not pay
tax, the organisation buying the goods has to pay 10% tax on all such
to the tax authority. In Mongolia, many provide receipts. Many are
given by people who are not registered for tax. One can never get a
receipt from such as a market trader or a taxi driver. This new law is
not known by people. ISS then did not pay realise it had to pay taxes
in this way. ISS bought goods and obtained receipts, not realising
they were false and not printed as for tax. The tax inspection is over
the years 2007-2009. ISS is then being fined for not paying, and has
to pay over $1600 for this. This looks like it is a real tightening on
religious organisations in Mongolia. Christianity has created due to
giving aid and the suicides and the halls full of screaming women is
even more creating a very real hatred of even the word “Jesus”, or
“Christian”.

Another problem is in relation to another new tax law. I, John get
support from UK, etc., so tax is an issue that end. Of course I do not
get paid from ISS, etc. However, the new tax law is that if a person
is connected to an organisation, but not paid by it, the whole of the
money they have brought into Mongolia is taxed at 10% on all. We had
no idea of that new law. That means we could be fined to pay 20% of
all the money we have brought to Mongolia to live on 2007-2009. They
are no concessions nor are they any “tax-free” allowances at all.

We have been hit hard by the recession in two ways:

- our income has dropped by 25% in a year
- this end has become now more costly than ever

This all means we need your prayers for all this.


We have an enemy:

NIV Ephesians 6.12 …our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but
against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of
this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the
heavenly realms.

The Bible does NOT say such do not exist. It does very much exist. It
should be noted that these things concerning shamanism are not made
up. The curses and so forth really do work.

NIV Ephesians 2.1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and
sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this
world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is
now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among
them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and
following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature
objects of wrath.

The Mongolians have who they think is a friend, named, “the ruler of
the kingdom of the air”. That is where their power comes from.

That is why Paul writes:

NIV Ephesians 6.19 Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth,
words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery
of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I
may declare it fearlessly, as I should.

We need you to pray FERVENTLY for God's work here and much for us.


John and Altaa in Mongolia

QUICK PRAYER POINTS No. 74
========================

Friday 22nd January 2010

There is a question arising from “Quick prayer points 73” which I sent
out yesterday. I need to answer it.

How do we, as believers, see the shaman? Are we also afraid of his
powers and curses?

Yesterday afternoon, just before I started to write that letter, a man
in his late twenties Uuraa was visiting us in the office. He runs a
stall in the market from which we buy mutton. Some months ago he had a
serious car crash so one of us went to see him in hospital. Yesterday
afternoon he came to say “thank you”. Whilst he was here, a Bible
Society employee talked to him about God. I left her to it and started
writing the letter. She told him who God is and that due to the
salvation she has in Christ, she is not afraid of any shaman. Uuraa
was absolutely astonished at that. No Mongolian ever says such a
dangerous thing. He left with a copy of the translation of Brownlow
North’s book on the rich man and Lazarus to read.

The shamans maintain they are in touch with the very greatest power of
the sky. That is why no Mongolian will ever say they do not fear them.
They advertise on TV, to come and offer sacrifices, to heal, to deal
with curses and so on. Everyone knows they are not pretending, but
really do such things. That is why they boldly advertise their
services. They know it really does work.

In 1980 a plumber in Ulaanbaatar wanted help. He told how one day he
was drunk and fought with a man who then cursed him and his family. In
a short time after that, his wife and children all fell ill and died.
Then the man started getting visits at night which woke him up. It was
some evil being which was ripping at his stomach. He could do nothing
about it. He was so scared that he became a night worker so as to try
to avoid going to sleep. This man was delivered by God entirely from
that.

We know first hand these things are real. It is nothing to do with
deception using strings and mirrors and so on. Exodus states the
magicians in Egypt could turn a stick into a snake (7.11-12); turn
water into blood (7.22); produce frogs (8.7). It was not pretence, but
real. When the witch of Endor called up the Samuel for king Saul, that
was not pretence. Every sinner in the world is in fact following satan
so being in touch with him is nothing exceptional or interesting. It
is the normal human condition, due to disobedience to God.

ESV Ephesians 2.1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in
which you once walked, following the course of this world, following
the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in
the sons of disobedience—3 among whom we all once lived in the
passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the
mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”

Seeing the reality, the fear of all Mongolians, how is it that the 30
year old single mother Bible Society employee can look a Mongolian man
straight in the eye and say with complete conviction she has no fear
of that which every single Mongolian is terrified? It is because she
knows that God has saved her and that she will never be condemned by
him for sin. (Romans 8.1) She knows that God has not merely saved her,
but that she and all of God’s children are seated with Christ in God’s
presence:

ESV Ephesians 2.4 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great
love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our
trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been
saved—6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the
heavenly places in Christ Jesus…

She knows that passage and is certain it applies to her. Where is that
place? It is God’s throne! That is what Christ did for her. He sent
God in the flesh, Jesus, who was punished instead of her on the cross
and she, the 30 year old single mother, by faith is united with him,
her sins are forgiven, she is married to Christ, as are all believers,
and as they all are, one with him are seated there. That is where
Christ is:

ESV Ephesians 1.15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith
in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not
cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that
the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a
spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having
the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the
hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious
inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness
of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his
great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the
dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far
above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every
name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

That is important, as Christ, and she seated with him, are far above
satan and anything else. Satan is a mere creation of God. He has no
more power and authority than he received from God.

ESV Genesis 3.1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast
of the field that the LORD God had made.

Jesus came and destroyed what satan did:

ESV 1 John 3.8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil,
for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son
of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

How? There is an important difference between God and satan. Satan is
proud. The mark of someone who is genuinely called by God to serve him
is:

ESV Numbers 12.3 Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people
who were on the face of the earth.

One attribute of God is that of boundless and utter humility. That is
why anyone he has sent must be humble. This applied to the King of
Kings:

ESV Philippians 2.5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in
Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count
equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing,
taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And
being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to
the point of death, even death on a cross.

You see what Christ made himself? God of Gods, gave himself into the
hands of his wicked creation, to be tortured, humiliated and hung
naked as a common criminal on a cross. It was no rapid death. He was
abandoned by God the Father himself, accounted as guilty of all sin.
That is the ultimate in humility. Only God could be that humble. That
then resulted in:

ESV Philippians 2.9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed
on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of
Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the
earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the
glory of God the Father.

All, whether the devil or man is below Christ. Seated with Christ
above all and very power and authority, the Mongolian single mother
has not any fear of the shaman. She knows the position God has placed
every believer in Christ. God alone did that.

Yesterday evening, when reading the Bible with Tegshee (Tiki for
short) about Sodom, he commented, “It sounds better than Ulaanbaatar”.


Let us praise and give thanks to God for what he did for us through
Christ, for his unfathomable humility and meekness, for his grace and
favour on us, that has seated us with him, far above all.


John and Altaa in Mongolia