"Lust for money brings trouble and nothing but trouble. Going down that path, some lose their footing in the faith completely and live to regret it bitterly ever after." I Timothy 6:10

Baan Pui was a village where a growing church was to be found. The church was not too old, but they were meeting together and trying to grow. As time went by, a few of the people in the village had opportunity to go to more discipleship training. And in a few years, two of the people were asked to act as elders for the village. They would get paid a certain amount of money from outside the country for doing this job. At the same time that these two were being trained, another group heard about the Believers in this village and invited a couple of other interested persons to their discipleship training. After a year of sporadic meetings, these two people were also given a salary to look after the group of believers. Two groups were supporting four individuals in this small village with only 25 believers!!!

After a time, believers in the village from group A began fighting with believers from group B over the matter of support. They each tried to say bad things about the other group, so that they would no longer be supported!

One day, we saw the police come into the village and arrest all four leaders. They were taken away to what we presume was the police station. However, after a few days, we heard that one of the men was in the hospital. When his family went to visit him, they were shocked to discover that the man had actually died in the hospital. The family was not allowed to see the body and were politely told that the body will be taken care of and not to worry about it!

What a sad story to see such bitterness, jealousy, and fighting erupt among a small group of believers...so much so, that the police had to get involved. The people were discovering it was not right to love money as they had, nor allow it to grow so big that they could not deal with it locally. It was also not right for the police to kill someone, but this is how justice is carried out in these countries...more than we would like to hear!

Please Pray:

• That those in authority, whether they be Christian or not, would not abuse their power. May they humbly submit to the Lord of All.

• A right understanding for those from the outside who like to use money to develop influence. May they see that the use of money is not always helpful nor is it really what the people always need.

The Prayer Update booklet Faces of the Black Tai has been very well received and a blessing to many who have read it and/or  prayed through it. They are still a few copies remaining. If you would like to get a copy of the booklet, please contact us.