An Island State of Mind
Creation Truth Foundation has many close ministry co-laboring organizations, with whom we work on many occasions. One of these is Dr. Carl Baugh’s Creation Evidence Museum in Glen Rose, TX. Our founder and president, Dr. G. Thomas Sharp, has often led expeditions of large groups of college students from Christ for the Nations International in Dallas, TX down to the Paluxy River to see the dinosaur and human fossilized footprints side by side in the rock of the riverbed. Last month, I had the honor of going to the island nation of Fiji with Dr. Baugh, and ministering of the creation science message to many students in church schools, on the local radio stations (both Christian and also broadcasting out of the local University of the South Pacific campus), and at the Civic Center in the capital city of Suva and there also in the Sports Arena. There was a large group of speakers and ministers on this expedition. And the Christian people of Fiji were gladdened in their hearts! Let me share a little of why this mission was (and is) important.
Being in Fiji was not like a vacation. My feet never touched the beach. This was a working trip (ha)! But one thing we all saw and heard, everywhere that we went, was just how much Fiji was like the USA – only 50 years ago. Today, in the public school system of the entire nation, teachers can both read the Bible and have prayers with their students! Having had a brutal and pagan past over 100 years ago, once the missionaries came Fiji quickly converted to being largely a Christian nation. Yes, the culture and ethnics are very different from the US. But the status of the Body of Christ in this set of islands in the south Pacific near New Zealand, Australia, and Indonesia … is quite good and strong as it was in the US during the 1950’s. But that will not last.
Fijian culture is on the brink of the same slippery slope that US culture and the US church faced back right about the time that prayer and the Bible were taken out of our public schools. And we all know what happened after that. The Fijian Christians are in a state of fervor for the Gospel and the Word. But they are not invulnerable to the same Deceiver who crept in and dealt a stab to the Christian worldview once held by the US as a nation and as a culture. The Fijians are painfully aware of this precipice. And they are on their knees for their children, their leaders, and their nation.
There are amazing small Christian schools providing a truly high quality of education to many young people on the island. I was impressed. And still, as mentioned, Christian teachers may still minister freely to their students in the public schools as well. But that time may be coming to close.
Friends, with only minimal efforts on our part to help, this compromising spirit can be thrust back into the darkness from whence it came. Fiji – ironically – could be the last of the truly great Christian oases left in the world at the end when the darkness closes in on the rest of the earth. True, the Antichrist will rule as prophecy states, during the Tribulation period. But if there is one hold-out culture of Christians that do endure up to the very end (perhaps until the Rapture itself) … wouldn’t that just be a wonderful thing? And it was wonderful for me, to be a part of that God-driven effort last month. There are plans to return earlier in the next summer, when the public schools are still in session. Please pray for that trip. Please consider supporting it financially, as travel that far is expensive. I am learning Fijian as best I can for the return visit.
God bless you all!
Dr. Jackson
