Threats of incarceration, fines and banishment were hurled at the new believers who valiantly stood their ground.
By: Peru Projects Team

In our last issue, we told you how seven Volunteer Missionaries (VMs) are taking the Three Angels' Message to the Napo, Tigre and Marañon Rivers (west of Iquitos) in northern Peru's Amazon rain forest where there is no Adventist presence, while one dozen other VMs are doing identical work east of Iquitos. Their sacrificial work has now produced its first fruits in the form of 27 newly-baptized disciples for the Kingdom of Heaven. Twenty-four individuals have been baptized in Bagazan and three more in Miraflores. Baptisms are planned over the next two months, as the IMPACTO RIO NAPO and RIO AMAZONAS harvest gets underway.

Little did we know that believers in Bagazán would soon encounter heavy opposition from fellow villagers simply for keeping the Lord's Sabbath. Here's what happened:

BAGAZAN is a village of several hundred evangelical brethren on the Marañon River. The 24 precious souls who gave their lives to Jesus Christ through baptism have, for several weeks, been keeping the Sabbath. Opposition, however, began to take shape like small ominous clouds on the horizon. Local authorities demanded that the "sabáticos" comply with a mandatory communal work-day. However, the river is flooding the entire village at this time, precluding any communal work. Perhaps this is God's way of answering their prayers for now!

In late April threats of incarceration, fines and banishment were hurled at the new believers who valiantly stood their ground. They are claiming their rights as Peruvian citizens to worship their Lord according to their personal convictions, on the seventh-day Biblical Sabbath. Sensing the severity of sanctions and possible violence, volunteer missionary Richard Chispama hopped on the first boat to Miraflores, two hours away, to call zonal pastor and air pilot, Alberto Marín, by satellite phone and alert him to the gravity of the situation.

Brother Marín encouraged the missionary to remain calm and resolute. He then contacted church leaders in Nauta, the District seat, for assistance.

We ask your prayers for the protection of our volunteer missionaries and brethren in Bagazán, that the Almighty God will shield them from further violence and allow them their constitutional rights as citizens. And we pray for all involved to manifest a true Christ-like character, resisting the temptation to return evil for evil.

We know that persecution of the Remnant Church will increase as more people discover the true Bible Sabbath. "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed." 1 Peter 3:15,16