Stealing Sago from a Spirit

To discover all the other exciting events happening in Adventist Heritage month, visit the Adventist Heritage website.

Serah Tina Keliwin serves as associate Education director for the Papua New Guinea Union Mission. She is married to her high school sweetheart, Keliwin Sasa, and they have six children and five grandchildren. She and her family attend the Lae Adventist Memorial Church where they assist in training young people to study God’s Word using the Bible Summary or School for Life method which she initially introduced at Mt Diamond Adventist Secondary School where she served as a teacher.  

What is Adventist Heritage Daily Devotional?

Imagine a thriving Adventist movement in the South Pacific. Do images or stories come quickly to mind? This podcast recounts important events, stories and memories from Adventists throughout the South Pacific. These mission stories from our past are proof that the Adventist movement is alive and thriving. Listen to these podcasts and step out to join these pioneering Adventists with Jesus on His mission of making disciple-makers in the South Pacific.

Two local missionaries and their families were sent to Salien village on the western coast of Manus, Papua New Guinea, in the mid-1960s. Benjamin Pondra was a pioneer teacher and his coworker, Pokarup, was the church pastor. Benjamin and his family came from the mainland and knew how to work with sago, which was a staple food in the village.

There was a particular piece of land near the village that was regarded as masalai (evil spirit) land. On this land grew many sago palms. Beside the swamp stood a tall slender tree that was believed to be the masalai’s hideout.

Food rations for both missionary families had run out, so Benjamin suggested they cut a mature sago from the masalai land. Before doing that, he prayed for God to reveal to the people His power to protect His children from the evil spirits and to provide for their needs.

To ply open the sago tree, he needed a straight tree branch, so he climbed the masalai’s “hideout” and cut off a branch. He then cut down the biggest sago tree from which they could harvest sago starch to last months. God also provided them with a large school of fish they caught later that day. These they happily shared with the villagers, who were amazed at the amount of sago harvested and the number of fish caught.

Previously, no one who had set foot on this land had escaped the masalai’s revenge. Death was usually the person’s fate, so everyone expected news of the teacher’s death the next day. Even the spirit man came by the teacher’s classroom to witness his collapse and eventual death. When nothing happened, he decided that the teacher’s God was stronger than his gods. After that experience, the village children were encouraged to attend the little Adventist School.

Adventist schools still strive to reveal Jesus, who protected and provided for Benjamin and his co-worker and their families. He is the same God who can protect and provide for you and me today. Come to Him now.

Verse of the day:
“The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want . . . Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me” Psalm 23:1,6 (NKJV).